JACK MILLER’S MISANO EXIT STEMMED FROM ELECTRONICS AND CLUTCH ISSUES AFTER TURN EIGHT CRASH

Jack Miller’s Misano MotoGP ended in a frustrating chain of events that began with a crash at Turn 8 and then spiralled into two separate Yamaha-related problems that prevented him from continuing.

Miller had been making progress early in the race, pushing his way into the points when he went down on lap three at Turn 8. The incident happened while he was locked in a battle with Johann Zarco, the French rider who would later be taken out by the same Turn 8 at the end of the race. Miller explained that he had started well and made moves on the opening lap, including a dive-bomb attempt on Zarco into Turn 1.

“I got away to a decent start, made some good moves on the first lap, had a dive bomb on Johann [Zarco] in turn one,” Miller said. He added that he felt he had good pace and was trying to force opportunities early, before the field settled into single file. “I felt like I had good pace and was trying to make up the moves while you can early doors because once you get that single file it becomes very difficult… to try and make an overtake.”

Miller described how his Turn 1 lunge didn’t stick, with Zarco able to defend by leaving the brakes and coming back on the change of direction. From there, Miller said he was “eye[ing] up a spot over the next lap.”

That chance came at Turn 8, where Miller, Fabio Quartararo and others all braked very late. Miller said the group’s late braking and positioning left him just slightly off-line, and he tried to push the situation harder than the riders around him. “Got to turn eight, myself, Fabio [Quartararo], him and myself kind of all braked real late,” he said. “It was one after the other, I was just a little bit wider. We were all a little bit off-line.”

He then pinpointed the moment the front gave up. “I was just a little bit wider and I tried to force it a little bit more than the other boys and the front gave up.”

Although Miller was able to pick the bike up relatively quickly, the crash still cost him the race. He said the damage wasn’t immediately the end—first, an electronics issue appeared, and then a mechanical problem with the clutch stopped the bike from firing when he tried to restart.

“I picked the bike up relatively quick,” Miller said. “I had a TC error just from riding on the gravel. I tried to turn the bike off and restart it just to clear the error, but once I turned the bike off the clutch was slipping and it wouldn't actually fire.”

With the clutch slipping and the machine unable to fire, Miller was forced to retire. “So, that was a bit of a pain in the arse. But anyway, the damage was done at the crash at turn eight,” he added.

Miller also reflected on the wider weekend, saying he felt the bike had reached its best form by race day—making the outcome feel even more disappointing. “Not a real long day for me,” he said after the San Marino race. He noted that the team had continued to work through difficulties, and that they had made changes leading into the event, including adjustments to the headstock angle the night before.

“Not the easiest of weekends to say the least, but we never stopped trying,” Miller said. “Even up to today, I felt like today was the best bike we rode all weekend. We chased our arse all weekend in terms of setup, changing headstock angle last night, and then from warm up to race we went a little longer with the bike and a little bit softer.”

He summed up the feeling of having finally found something workable, only to lose the chance to use it. “We're just trying to play catch up basically and get to something that is A, competitive; and B, I'm comfortable with riding.” Miller concluded: “Like I said, I feel like in the race it felt like the best bike I rode all weekend, I just didn't get to do bugger all on it.”