Jack Miller ‘got a little trigger happy, fired it at the wall’
The factory Ducati rider lost the front of his machine on entry to Stowe, at the end of the back straight, the scene of several Friday accidents.
“A bit stiff now – from five weeks off, to riding into a wall ain't great, but the rest is all good!” smiled Miller on Friday evening.
The several scares on the hard rear tyre, the Australian had switched back to the medium.
“The medium felt fantastic, but I just got a little trigger happy at the end of the back straight,” Miller explained.
“There was a big cross wind, right as the track sort of goes up and drops off. Where everybody’s crashed. I came in there too fast and was trying to stop it, wasn’t happening and I fired at the wall. So not ideal. I'm feeling pretty tender now!
“But I was able to come back in, swap leathers, get back out on the soft tyre and post a decent time so I can't complain too much. We’re inside the top 10. It's job one done for the weekend. So now we just got to keep it going into tomorrow.”
Miller confirmed that he will raise the issue of the tyre wall during Friday night’s Safety Commission meeting.
“It's close. I'll be bringing it up in the Safety Commission,” he said.
“I went into the gravel sliding backwards and I lost all sort of sense of direction of where I was. Then I just sort of went head first into the ground. Sort of bent my wrists back. And then as I flipped over, I hit the wall and then bounced back off the wall.
“So I made it to the wall and the bike was [lying] right next to me.
“I crashed kinda earlyish on the brakes, I saw for example [Darryn] Binder go down and he didn't quite make it to the wall. But then Zarco did, some of the other guys did.
“So especially if there's contact or whatever, it's something that needs to be looked at, I think, in the future. Because yeah, it is pretty scary.
“I also had a bit of a moment in there this morning and just trying to stop the bike before going in the gravel, even though you've got that runoff area, it's pretty tight.
A long walk back for @jackmilleraus as he becomes the latest to be caught out by Stowe! #BritishGP pic.twitter.com/BMqb9vFhHj
— MotoGP (@MotoGP) August 5, 2022
“Folger had his big moment there and sort of slammed the wall some years ago. I remember that.
“I was lucky…But if the bike’s followed me in it's going to be a different story. There's no air bag on it where I hit, so whether or not airbags need to be put around [the tyre wall] a bit further.
“We'll discuss it this afternoon and try to come up with a solution.
It's just one of those things. The sport’s getting faster and faster, the tyres are getting better and better. That's how it goes.
“These things can't be changed immediately. It’s a massive facility and it's not one of those points that is super dangerous yet. But of course the bikes are going to continue to get faster and the corners are going to continue to get faster.
“So it's something that we need to look at. A lot of tracks are like that, Barcelona we've had discussions. It's just one of those things.”
Miller finished 0.418s from Friday leader Fabio Quartararo, with Pramac’s Johann Zarco the top Ducati in fourth.
“The bike itself is working pretty decent,” Miller said. “Here you've got a lot of hard accelerating points with lean angle and, especially when I threw the soft in, I was having a big issue with the bike sort of pumping and shaking just with the amount of grip you've got.
“It cost me quite a bit of time on my best lap. And like I said, I was a bit rough and a bit rusty going back out on the bike, so I didn't feel that great and then it was bucking and weaving like it was.
“That's probably the main issue, we were chasing grip this morning and then we were able to find it and now we’ve just gotta understand how we can get it smoother. That’s it.”
Well... not too sure what to call this one!
— MotoGP (@MotoGP) August 5, 2022
Some very different new aero for @Bestia23! #BritishGP pic.twitter.com/i0vWXLwBEk
Miller: New Ducati seat wings 'pretty out there'
Asked about the new Ducati seat aero trialled by Jorge Martin and Enea Bastianini on Friday, Miller joked that he'd have to be careful not to kick them off when getting on the bike.
"I had a look at it in the box yesterday. I mean it's pretty out there, but they've got it on my list of things to try," he said. "I'm flat out [trying] not to kick the camera off the back when I get on the bike, so I reckon I could probably do some damage to those wings! But we'll see."
Bastianini revealed the main benefit is in braking: "My first [impression] was good, especially on the brakes. It's more stable. And also for the [top] speed, it's not bad. And I think for tomorrow it's good for the qualifying."
Miller's team-mate Francesco Bagnaia, who fell through the Maggots/Becketts section this morning, was eleventh fastest on day one.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
