Jack Miller: I thought ‘Oh shit, I’m in the top five here’

After a disastrous opening lap a week earlier in Indonesia, Jack Miller stormed from 14th to 5th on the opening lap of the Japanese MotoGP.

The factory KTM rider, whose first-lap fall brought down three others at Mandalika, picked his lines perfectly this time around.

Hugging the inside through the opening corners Miller initially settled into ninth place, before Franco Morbidelli and Maverick Vinales were forced wide ahead.

Miller then outbraked both Marc Marquez and Enea Bastianini to snatch a surprise fifth place at the end of the back straight.

“I can generally get away well and pick my lines pretty good on the first lap - obviously last week not included because I managed to mess that up!” said Miller.

“But I was happy to get a decent jump and to pass nearly ten blokes on the first lap was nice.

“I was in the right spot at the right time to be honest. I was just was able to hold the inside when there was a bit of chaos on the outside. Just roll the kerb, keep it tight and stay out of drama.

“It was fun to be there. Going down the back straight when I passed Marc and Enea into Turn 11, I thought ‘Oh shit, I’m in the top five here. ’

“But the anchor soon got thrown out and the boys started coming back past me pretty fast.”

Miller remained in the top six until lap 6 of 24, when he was overtaken by Franco Morbidelli and Marco Bezzecchi in quick succession.

Fabio di Giannantonio demoted the Australian to eighth by the midway stage, when admits he was hoping the drizzle would increase.

“I was hoping and praying it was going to come down a little bit more, because those boys [ahead] had eked out a fair bit by that point, but I could still see them.

“But it was only the slightest of drizzle, nothing like Moto2 had.”

Miller, like many riders, spent the remainder of the race battle for rear grip, crossing the line in tenth place.

“It was gnarly trying to get the thing off the corners at the end there, trying to use all the paint you can because it’s the only place that it seemed to find grip,” he said.

“We’re struggling a bit with mid-corner and corner exit speed. The front is stable and it stayed solid all race but we still have some work to do.

“This hard-braking track was good for us. We’ll come back next week and give it a crack at the Island and see how it goes there.”

Team-mate Brad Binder finished in sixth place.

Miller’s home Australian Grand Prix takes place from October 18-20.