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Australian MotoGP racer Jack Miller has admitted that he’s not entirely sure he’s “worthy” of the honour of having a corner at the home of the Australian Grand Prix named after him, after the Phillip Island circuit’s Turn 4 was officially renamed from the Honda Hairpin to Miller Corner.
Joining other Australian legends Wayne Gardner, Mick Doohan and Casey Stoner in having sections of the iconic venue named for them, the four-time race winner admitted that the somewhat surreal experience wasn’t one that he had expected given that he hasn’t yet matched his compatriots in winning a premier class world championship.
However, with Miller now very much the face of motorcycle racing in Australia – an especially important factor since the departure of Valentino Rossi at the end of 2020 – he says that Australian Grand Prix boss Andrew Westacott presented him with the mark of achievement last week as something of a wedding present as Miller tied the knot just before heading to Phillip Island.
.@jackmilleraus's legacy in the sport will live on at Phillip Island with Turn-4 renamed Miller Corner. #AustralianGP #MotoGP #JackMiller pic.twitter.com/VfcUuQgAwj
— Australian MotoGP™ (@ausmotogp) October 15, 2022
“It was pretty surreal,” he admitted after qualifying.
“I mean, that was an amazing gesture. I’m definitely not worthy of it but I’ll take it.
“It’s awesome to be stamped on this amazing racetrack.
“You know… I was riding back in on the bike after the little ceremony thing and I was crying. It’s a real honour and still hasn’t quite sunk in yet.
“Andrew came to the wedding last week and that was his wedding gift, I guess you could say. That was kind of cool of him. It’s amazing, for them to recognise what I do for motorcycle racing, what I’m about.
“I’m about promoting motorcycle racing in the most positive way I can, I love this sport, I love everything about it – and, you know, it shows that not only to be world champion or anything like that, but if you can be a nice guy and go fast from time to time, then that’ll definitely pay as well.”
Unfortunately for Miller, he won’t quite start Sunday’s race from as strong a position as he had hoped for, with only a third row start for his home race amid a tough weekend.
Struggling throughout practice to find pace – and unable to make the same significant jump that Ducati team-mate Pecco Bagnaia did to end the day on the front row of the grid – Miller is nonetheless still quite upbeat given the traditionally close nature of racing at the circuit and what he expects to be a tyre life battle that will favour the more experienced riders.
“It was a decent day because we improved from yesterday,” he explained, having been only 13th on Friday.
“It’s not exactly the qualifying I wanted, of course, but the third row seems to be a bit of a habit these days.
“I feel relatively good for tomorrow’s race, even if I want to improve the bike to try and work out the balance a little better, as I’ve been lacking a bit of confidence and if we can sort that out we’ll be alright.
“It’s a long race here, we’re three tenths off, and I’m sure it’s going to be a tight, close group.
“There are a lot of young guys there who’ve not raced here before, and so I think we should be able to use the experience that I’ve had before in terms of the tyres.”
