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By Neil Morrison<br />
At the tail of this nine-bike freight<br />
train is where he was. But this was<br />
part of a larger strategy. Phillip<br />
Island’s layout always places emphasis<br />
on rear tyre conservation<br />
with turns two, three, six, eleven<br />
and twelve requiring bikes to do<br />
all of their accelerating on the left<br />
side of the tyre. Miller found that<br />
out the hard way, leading the start<br />
of the 2017 and ’18 races before<br />
deteriorating grip sent him out of<br />
the podium fight.<br />
This was a race of patience and<br />
keeping cool when events around<br />
him were anything but – far from<br />
easy in the midst of a home race<br />
brawl. “At one point Rins jammed<br />
me pretty hard at turn two and<br />
stood me up,” he later recalled.<br />
“Even then I didn’t get nervous. I<br />
just kept being calm.” There was<br />
an element of fortune to be in<br />
the top three. But like Brno and<br />
Aragon, Miller showed his throttlehappy<br />
instincts of the past are<br />
being smoothed out.<br />
It’s in line with what has been a<br />
largely impressive year. Thoughts<br />
on whether Miller could make it to<br />
the very top weren’t always clear.<br />
A rider doesn’t earn a three-year<br />
factory contract with HRC in MotoGP<br />
after just three full seasons in<br />
Moto3 without having something<br />
about him. <strong>No</strong>r does he become<br />
the premier class’ first satellite<br />
winner in just under ten years<br />
when no older than 21.<br />
But he was some way from the<br />
finished article. Last year – his first<br />
with Ducati – was something of a<br />
disappointment, even if he spent<br />
it on a year old machine. Two top<br />
six finishes, including a tough run<br />
of results from June to October, fell<br />
below the expectations. “I think it’s<br />
like when, for many years, you are<br />
not used to being at the top,” Pramac<br />
team boss Francesco Guidotti<br />
told me last September. “[Then]<br />
feeling the pressure of being at the<br />
top can tire you out.”<br />
Yet a step up to current machinery<br />
gave Miller a boost. So much so<br />
that he’s been in the running for<br />
top sixes everywhere with the exception<br />
of Jerez, Assen and Misano.<br />
<strong>Off</strong> the bike he consummately<br />
dealt with the mid-season titter<br />
linking Jorge Lorenzo to his seat.<br />
And he has begun to develop a<br />
working method with eyes on the<br />
race, when he weighs up events<br />
around him.<br />
The second half of the Aragon race<br />
was a case in point. There was<br />
a chance to appreciate the tyresaving<br />
talents of fellow Ducati man<br />
Andrea Dovizioso from up close.<br />
“He was a little tighter in a few<br />
corners and getting better at acceleration<br />
whereas typical-me I was<br />
going in far too fast, running wide<br />
and opening maybe a little early.<br />
<strong>On</strong>ce he came past, I understood<br />
what I needed to do.” Sunday’s<br />
outing saw him put this in practice<br />
for the full 27 laps.<br />
“He’s arriving,” crew chief of<br />
nearly two seasons Cristian Pupulin<br />
believes. “He’s learning new<br />
things every race. He’s improving<br />
his behaviour during the race. He’s<br />
using more his mind more than<br />
his talent. That is important. OK,<br />
he’s not 100 percent consistent<br />
but he’s young and he can improve<br />
that last step that he needs to do.<br />
“[Last year] was quite different.<br />
He was trusting 100 percent in his<br />
talent and not working so much
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