Jack Miller’s hopes of a MotoGP win on home soil were spectacularly skittled after a sickening crash at Phillip Island.
In a cruel twist of fate, the factory Ducati rider was taken out by satellite Honda rider Alex Marquez at the corner freshly renamed after the Australian.
Marquez appeared to lose control of his bike into Miller Corner under brakes, slamming into the back of the Townsville-born rider, only narrowly missing Luca Marini.
READ MORE: The massive stakes in Seibold play
READ MORE: Racing boss’ response to criticism over flood walls
READ MORE: Tragedy that led TV star jockey to OnlyFans
Miller said he was “beyond devastated” to record a DNF after a three-year wait due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’m alright,” said Miller, who had been a race-high third prior to the incident.
“Like you say, what a way to christen the corner. I was doing everything I could up until that point. I felt pretty confident, pretty comfortable. The bike was working really well.
“I was just trying to maintain, just going through the motions as you do in the middle part of the race, then yeah, got slammed from the rear.
“It came out of nowhere. There was nothing I could do about it. That’s racing sometimes. That’s all we can say.”
Miller recently celebrated tieing the knot with his long-time partner, Ruby. However, his sojourn to home soil didn’t end the way he had hoped.
“I feel all right,” said the 27-year-old.
“I feel like I’ve been run over by a motorbike, that’s for certain. No, I’m alright. The balls have copped a bit of a hiding where I got jammed against the tank and the calves are a bit sore, but the rest is all good.”
It was an extraordinary Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix punctuated by Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo bombing out of contention.
A mistake at Miller Corner dropped him outside the top 10 and then a low side at the Southern Loop condemned him to a DNF.
With that, the Frenchman lost his championship lead to Miller’s teammate Francesco Bagnaia.
The frenetic 27-lap affair was won by Alex Rins in an instant classic.
Bagnaia led the closing laps of the race only to cede first and second to Rins and Marc Marquez.
On the factory Suzuki, Rins was resilient in defence and held off the factory Honda rider Marquez.
In the end, just 0.8s covered the top seven riders.
With third place, Bagnaia turned a three-point deficit into a 14-point advantage over Quartararo.
For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!
Incredible escapes: The worst crashes in motorsport history
For all the latest Sports News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
