Jack Miller finally has a third MotoGP win for Ducati, months after confirmation of his impending departure, and that is the focus of this week’s Pirtek Poll.
Miller dominated the Japanese Grand Prix, passing stablemate Jorge Martin for the lead on Lap 3 and clearing out to a margin of more than five seconds at the start of the final lap around Motegi.
However, it was his first victory in 29 rounds, so we ask you today, did Ducati make the right decision on the Queenslander?
Firstly, it is important to note that the Bologna manufacturer did not seek to oust Miller from its MotoGP ranks altogether.
While he will saddle up for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing next year, the offer was on the table to go back to Pramac Racing, Ducati’s senior satellite team, for which it holds the rider contracts.
That is, Ducati still wanted #43, and it clearly still trusts him based on the developments it gave him to test just this month at Misano.
Nevertheless, the fact is, Miller was in line for a demotion.
Pramac may get the same bikes as the factory team, as does Tech3 in KTM’s structure, but the man who Miller is replacing next year, Miguel Oliveira, was not willing to make the same sort of move and he is off to Aprilia’s satellite team instead.
‘Jackass’ may well have won the Japanese Grand Prix, but the manner in which he did so was unlike nothing we had ever seen from him before.
The man himself stated post-race that “I didn’t know I had that in me.”
Additionally, just two rounds earlier, he had taken just the second pole position of his premier class career, only to crash his Desmosedici while leading on just Lap 2 at Misano.
Current team-mate Francesco Bagnaia went on to win that contest by a margin of just 0.034s over Miller’s replacement, Enea Bastianini.
Indeed, Miller himself said having his seat at the Ducati Lenovo Team given to Bastianini “makes sense” after the Italian won the French Grand Prix, less than four weeks before his deal with KTM was confirmed.
‘La Bestia’ went on to take a fourth win of the season just over a week ago, when he passed Bagnaia on the final lap around Aragon as the other factory Ducati finished fifth.
To emphasise the point, Bastianini has matched Miller’s premier class career in terms of race wins in just this, his second season in MotoGP, with a victory which broke a streak of four victories in a row for Bagnaia.
In the championship, Bagnaia is second with four rounds to go in 2022, Bastianini fourth, and Miller fifth.
Furthermore, if ‘Thriller’ himself did not realise that he was capable of his Japan masterclass, then how could Ducati have been?
On the other hand, Bologna arguably has a history of giving up on its riders too early, Jorge Lorenzo being the best example.
Still, how long could it afford to wait, all the while leaving not only Bastianini but also Jorge Martin, who will remain with Pramac after all, facing uncertain futures?
So, bearing in mind that Ducati did want to keep Miller in one of its teams, we ask, did it make the right decision on him?
Cast your vote below in this week’s Pirtek Poll.
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