JACK Miller said he pushed too hard on the opening laps of the San Marino Grand Prix, where he dropped out on the third lap of the race.
After qualifying in the front row, the Australian seemed ready for a strong race. Miller had shown a strong race pace in practice in addition to his speed in qualifying and wanted to stay in the top group after the early battles.
He stayed second behind pole sitter Jorge Lorenzo in the first corners before losing a place on the back straight to eventual winner Andrea Dovizioso.
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Miller then slipped a lap later after a firm step from Marc Marquez to fourth place, which, he admitted, “shook me a little”.
He would turn exactly one more lap and fall in the same corner in which the reigning world champion had overtaken him.
“I lacked a bit of acceleration so I worked really hard on the corners to stay with these guys,” he said.
“I really wanted to stay with them so I pushed pretty hard. They gained a bit on me on the back straight and I brought in a bit more cornering speed.
“Only with a full tank and the track wasn’t quite finished, there was still a lot of Dunlop rubber on it (from Moto3 and Moto2), and that cost me.
“I held it on my elbow for as long as I could, but it went away very quickly.
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“I seemed to have problems in this corner in qualifying yesterday. We tried adding a bit of pre-load just to try to do better, but maybe we went a little wrong.
“We live and we learn.”
Miller would get back on the bike and continue riding, even though the fall threw him to the end of the field. Despite the delay, Miller was able to prove his good racing pace by working his way up to 18th place.
“I think we made a good move this weekend,” he said.
“Even when I picked up the bike after the crash with a bent handlebar and bent brake levers, we were still really fast in the race and made up a lot of positions and a lot of time.
“If we look at the race pace, it was really solid again. I think we found what we needed in the last GPs.
“The test in Aragon last week was very positive for us. I look forward to getting there and trying to see what we can do. “
The next round of the MotoGP World Championship will take place from September 21 to 23 in Motorland Aragon.