Jack Miller: "I was getting hunted, I tried to throw everything I could at it"

Miller on Acosta battle: “We nudged🐓 each other on the exit of Turn 3 and I was on the outside going into 4. I thought, ‘This is going to go one of two ways♚…’”

Jack Miller, 2024 Thai MotoGP
Jack Miller, 2024 Thai MotoGP

168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Jack Miller came within two laps of claiming his first KTM MotoGP podium of the season in the Thai MotoGP.

The Australian used the📖 Sunday rain to scythe from 15th on the grid to seventh in the opening laps.

That included a pass on GASGAS rookie Pedro Acosta, followed by Franco Morb💎idelli and Red Bull team-mate Brad Binder.

When Marc Marquez crashed ܫout, Miller was promoted into a♌ potential first MotoGP rostrum since Jerez 2023.

But Acosta retaliated🎃 in the closing stages, prising the podiꦆum from Miller’s grasp after an entertaining back-and-forth battle.

Struggling badly🌠 for front grip, VR46’s Fabio di Giannantonio demoted Miller to fif🔴th on the final lap.

“The first couple laps were pretty hairy,” Miller began. “I was starting 🧸15th and didn't get the greatest starts either. I ran without the front [holeshot] device, just didn't want to spin the thing up on the line.

“And then the spray was pretty hectic. I was trying to avoid the carnage as we🍌ll, a lot of blokes were losing the rear and whatnot. So the pack split a little bit.

“I was able to find my way through, settled🐲 in fourth and then when Marc threw it down [I w🌳as] third.

“But I was real🐈ly suffering at the front end, it was like I’d cℱooked the front tyre. 

“So all my roll speed [through the ☂corners] was pretty much gone. I was really having to park it🎃, pick it up and get [upright] on the exit.

“Then probably with 3 to go, she had nothing left in the cent꧂re ♑of the tyre. 

"I was getting hunted. I tried to throw everything I could at it. I rꦆeally wanted that podium today, but it wasn't to be.

“Just those first couple of laps trying to get through the pack cost us and probably put the most stress on the🅺 tyre.”

Recalling the🌱 close fight with Acosta, who will take over his factory seat next season, Miller grinned:

“🥂I was throwing everything I had at it, honestl🎐y! 

"He went for the inside and we sort of nudged each other on the exit of [Turn] 3 and then towards 4 and I was on the outside and thought, ‘This is going to go one of two ways, I’m either gonna make 🌼it꧅ or I'm not!’

“Because I'd been losing the front every lap there. Just as you start cracking the gas on, the front would go. So I thought, ‘Oh well. What better spot to really test the front than where I൩'ve been losing it every lap!’

“I was able to get it donꦜe, but he came back at me at 5. I tried to squඣare him up again, but wasn't quite able to make it. And that was that.

“I was just throwing everything I could at it, almost like 🌞a bit of a roadblock there.

“I also swapped the [engine⭕] map near the end. We had a map with a little less TC, but to be honest it was probably worse, just because I was spinning far too much in a straight line.

“But we stayed on, showed good grit!”

With hindsight, and having only the ten-minute warm-up to find a wet setting, Miller revealed he should have gone fo🍷r an even ‘shorter’ race set-up.

“We improved from this morning, we went 8mm shorter and I probably would have gone another three in the rear end of the bike just to try and get that drive grip,” he said, referring to a shorter wheelbase loading the rear tyre under accelera♏tion.

“Kind of wasn’t really rotating enough [wꦑeight] onto the rear. Easy to say now, but we made a biꦆg step after warm-up and probably could have gone a little bit more in that direction.”

Nonetheless, such knowledge coul🎃d prove vital if rain is again a factor during this weekend’s Sepang round or the Valencia finale.

“It is what it is, you’ve got to get on with it,” Miller said of riding a🔯 MotoGP bike fast in the wet. “Try to 🌼feel what's happening underneath you.

“That's the beauty of the MotoGP bikes nowadays with these carbon brakes, you're not pulling a stupid amount of🐻 pressure on the lever. You're kind of nursing it and playing with the grip.

“You get a really good feeling of what's happening on the bike in the wet [now], both when I was on thꦆe Ducati and obviousl✃y now with the KTM.

“So I enjoy it. You’ve kind of got to ride to the grip avai🦹lable… Picking the bike up and all that, it’s just fun.”

Fifth place at Buriram matched Miller’ꦚs best dry finish of the season, at Portimao.

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