RideFast June 2020
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JACK MILLER SIGNS WITH<br />
FACTORY DUCATI MOTOGP<br />
The Aussie superstar recently put pen-to-paper on a deal with the Factory<br />
MotoGP squad for 2021 and 2022 - and on his official blog site Jack writes<br />
about his big break with Ducati.<br />
Hi everyone,<br />
I always had dreams of becoming a fully-fledged factory rider … fair to say I didn’t think it<br />
would happen with me sitting at home in Townsville having not raced for six months, but<br />
<strong>2020</strong> has been a strange old year. But it’s done, and having my 2021 plans sorted out so early<br />
is so exciting with what I’ll be doing, and in many ways a dream come true for me. When I got<br />
to MotoGP in 2015, this is what I was always chasing, so to have it actually happening is a bit<br />
surreal. But it’s the reality, and it feels bloody good.<br />
This is, pretty much, what I’ve been working towards my whole life – to sign with a factory<br />
and be a fully-fledged factory rider is something you put in your mind as long-term goal<br />
when this all started way back when. To be there … it’s so exciting and a little bit unreal in<br />
some ways, but shows you that all the hard work and sacrifices everyone who has helped<br />
me to get there were worth it.<br />
I have to thank Ducati for putting their faith in me, and backing me to do the job they want<br />
me to do and trusting that I can do it. Me wanting a full factory ride with them has been on<br />
my mind since I joined in 2018, it was always the goal. When you’re on one-year contracts<br />
like I always have been, it’s something you’re striving for. And they helped to bring me along.<br />
The last two years with Pramac, I’ve learned a lot about myself as a person, as a rider, about<br />
everything to do with the sport really. They’ve helped me to become a more complete rider<br />
and person and I’ve loved the time they’ve spent investing in me, it’s made me hungrier than<br />
ever to keep getting better and making the most of that. The Pramac guys have been so close<br />
to the factory team that I’ve learned how factory riders are supposed to be, supposed to<br />
work. It’s had a big effect on the way I approach my racing, and there’s a methodical way of<br />
working that I had to learn, but it’s one where you can have a lot more impact on the way the<br />
team and bike works. More responsibility, basically. I’ve really enjoyed that.<br />
I remember thinking last year that I felt the rider market in MotoGP was in for a bit of a shakeup<br />
in the short-term because of the way Marc (Marquez) has been on top most of the time<br />
since he’s been in. He’s only a couple of years older than me, but at first it was the older guys<br />
like Valentino (Rossi), Jorge (Lorenzo) and Dani (Pedrosa) who were his main opponents.<br />
But things have changed. Yamaha have Maverick (Vinales) who is my age, Suzuki have Alex<br />
(Rins) and Joan (Mir), and I was hoping Ducati would see me as their young guy who has<br />
been around for a while but is still pretty young to get into that conversation. Marc is the<br />
benchmark, so the main goal for all of the other factories is to get somewhere close to him.<br />
For me the big switch-up was Yamaha bringing in Fabio (Quartararo) for next year to replace<br />
Rossi – it was an inevitable decision but one that had to be done, but for them to actually do it<br />
was a different thing because, I mean, it’s Rossi ... I’m stoked that Ducati see me as their guy in<br />
that age range to try to fight amongst ourselves and hopefully with Marc in years to come.<br />
This season – I’ll say ‘when’ we get it started more than ‘if’ – I’ll be even more keen to finish<br />
my time out with Pramac on a good note. We had a plan at the start of the season for what<br />
we wanted to achieve and it’s taken us longer than we wanted to start it, but once we get<br />
going I’ll be doing everything I can to get the results we want for the team and for myself. The<br />
team and the organisation have been unreal to me, so hopefully I can help them achieve that<br />
they deserve before I switch garages. Nothing would make me happier.<br />
Cheers, Jack