Alex Marquez (left) and Jack Miller (right) prepare to face off at the season finale in Valencia, Spain. Photography By Andrea Wilson.
VALENCIA, SPAIN, NOV. 6 – With only Moto3 left to be decided at the MotoGP World Championship season finale in Valencia, the talk of the paddock is the anticipated showdown on Sunday between Estrella Galicia 0,0’s Alex Marquez and Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Jack Miller.
In a class that arguably has had the best racing this year, the battles between the younger Marquez brother and the up-and-coming Australian rider have been epic. So now it comes down to Valencia – Marquez’ home turf. In addition to the home field advantage, Marquez also holds an 11-point advantage over Miller, which means that even if Miller wins on Sunday all Marquez has to do is make the podium to be crowned World Champion.
But it is however Moto3 and a rider can go from first to fifth in a blink of an eye, so Marquez can’t really go into a conservative, protect the championship mode.
“Yeah, the races in Moto3 is always like this. You can win the race or you can finish fifth or sixth,” Marquez said. “Here the straights are more short so maybe it’s not so important like Malaysia. So I think it’s the best place, I say before, to try and win the title. It’s a really good track for me, for the bike. So I need to stay focused and then Sunday in the race will see the situation.”
As for Miller the objective is clear – win the race.
“Yeah we know what we’ve got to do,” Miller said. “We had a couple of mistakes, Aragon and then also Assen where I crashed out by myself and also Mugello. I mean Stupid mistakes. This cost us. We’ve had five victories a lot of highs and a lot of lows. For three crashes we can be happy that we’re still 11 points away going into Valencia. We’ve got a little bit of momentum going at the last couple of GPs and hopefully we can bring it on to this weekend. It’s going to be hard. Alex [Marquez] has been running amazing the last GPs as well and everybody else. We’re doing our job the best we can. We’ll see on Sunday. It’s just going to be a waiting game basically.”
Miller also acknowledged the unpredictability of Moto3 racing and that basically all the strategic planning in the world can go awry.
“Strategies are strategies, I mean you can place yourself where you want to be on the last lap, but you’ve got no idea what the 12 blokes behind you or the five still in front of you are doing,” Miller said. “It’s like a high speed game of chess and you just got to go with the flow.”
A high speed game of chess for sure, but also generally a full contact form of chess and maybe one that involves help from some friends? Also known as – team orders.
Marquez didn’t take the bait on the team orders and instead maintained that the focus was on himself and maintaining fair tactics.
“I want to have a good race in the tactics for try to win this race and then will see what,” Marquez said. “I’m really confident here and with the team, sure if we work like always we’re competitive at all the circuits. So sure we have also a really good bike so for me it’s so important to stay focused all weekend and then in the race we will see.”
Miller was a little more candid on the subject of team orders.
“Well I don’t know, I haven’t got a radio installed on my bike yet. So maybe for Sunday we might need to have that, but I’m a little bit fat already so the less weight the better,” Miller said tongue in cheek.
“No… I believe all the races have been more or less fair,” he went on more seriously. “And I believe that it’s going to be like any other race. As you’ve seen [Danny] Kent for one is working for Kent. There’s no real team orders. Of course, don’t take him out is one of them, but that’s about it. As you saw in Japan, Danny’s working for himself. There’s no real way to help someone out there to be honest. You never really know where anybody’s going to be. Like I said you can’t create a strategy. Just take it as it comes. It’s just going to be a free for all I think.”
Which is a fair prediction because a free for all pretty much describes every other Moto3 race this season. So why shouldn’t the race that decides the championship be the same?
“Yeah you know, it’s going to be a normal old race I think,” Miller said. “A normal old Moto3 race, lets put it that way. It’s going to be rough and tough and it’s going to be dirty and grimy like they’ve all been. But I think that’s what a lot of these guys [fans] come here to watch. We’re out there fighting with two wheels between us so it makes it exciting and I think you couldn’t ask for a better season.”
As for the fighting bit, it seemed as thou Marquez and Miller had two different opinions on it. At the previous round in Sepang the pair made contact multiple times in the race and there was criticism from the Marquez camp, including an official protest. But race direction deemed Miller’s actions in Sepang as racing.
Marc Marquez’ assessment after Sepang was that Miller’s contact with his younger brother was a bit excessive, but that if it was deemed within the rules his brother big enough and talented enough to match Miller.
So was the younger Marquez prepared to ride more aggressive?
Marquez came back with: “No I say before, I want to try and win this title with fair play.”
And what did Miller think about the older Marquez brother’s critique?
“Yeah, finally we are all only humans, huh?” Miller answered a question with at question. “We’re all made up of the same sh*t, nonetheless. But I mean of course he’s big, he’s tough and of course he’s ready to fight as well. I think if we’re fighting for a world championship it should be like this.”
It’s not only a title-deciding race for Marquez and Miller, it’s also the pair’s last Moto3 race period. Marquez advances to Moto2 with the Marc VDS squad and Miller makes the jump to MotoGP with LCR Honda. Both are looking to enjoy the moment as well as hopefully take the title.
And like Marquez, Miller goes into Valencia with confidence.
“We’ve been getting stronger and stronger week in week out,” Miller said. “We’re working with rhythm a lot more and preparing the bike more for racing. And it’s been good. We’ve got a great bike for fighting as you’ve seen the thing’s awesome on the brakes. And we couldn’t come here with a better package.”
Miller also felt that Valencia played to his dirt track background, he just hasn’t finished a race there yet.
“It’s a very special track,” Miller said. “I like it a lot because you’re so long on the left hand side of the tire and then by the time you get on the right it’s always slippery and slidey. So I enjoy it a lot it comes back to a little bit of dirt track and stuff like that. So I’ve always enjoyed riding here, I’ve never finished a race here. So that’d be nice to do this year, touch wood. It’s a good track and I’ve always seemed to go rather well here, whether it be in the wet condition or in the dry last year, but just failed to see the checkered flag.”
Miller also took the opportunity to not only talk about the final race, but reflect on the season as a whole.
“We started off the season really well, gelled really great with the new team. The feeling’s been really awesome all year,” Miller said. “I know for the fans and for you guys [media] the races have just been spectacular. I take my hat off to everybody that’s been out there and rubbing it up. It couldn’t have created such a great season. I’m so happy to end my Moto3 career on a level like this, coming into Valencia on the last round and fighting for the title with the likes of Alex [Marquez] and everybody else.”
