PHILLIP Island continued to throw everything at riders and fans on final day, Sunday, October 16, for the Animoca Brands Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix 2022 with morning showers, clouds and ultimately sunshine.
But by race time, 2pm, the sun was out as Emily Williams sang a rousing rendition of the Australian National Anthem and the big race was underway.
From 8th on the grid, Australian Jack Miller was initially shuffled back to 12th but took advantage of a major error by Fabio Quartararo and surged through to as high as 3rd before being passed by a couple of riders and settling back into 5th, swapping places with the likes of Italian Francesco Bagnaia and Spain’s Alex Rins who had made “an absolutely stunning start” coming up from 10th to sit in 3rd.
But on Lap 8 of 27, Jack Miller’s race was over, ironically on 'Miller Corner' when he was clipped from behind by a desperate Alex Marquez and taken out.
Initially there was plenty of concern about his welfare, but Miller got up and hobbled away from the track, beaten but unbroken as the fans gave him a raucous cheer in support.
Commentators termed the attempt by Marquez as “horrendous” when he got his braking technique all wrong into the corner and collided with the back of Miller’s bike just as the Aussie was slotting into a very solid performance.
Marquez was seen apologizing to Miller for eliminating him from his own home GP, especially galling after Turn Four was named in Miller's honour last week but it was a bitter pill for both Miller and local fans to swallow.
Remarkably Alex Rins on the Suzuki came through on the last lap to take over from Francesco Bagnaia who was pushed back to third and Marc Marquez who took his 100th podium finish across a remarkable career, taking second.
The commentators were effusive in their praise at the end about the Phillip Island circuit.
"Is there any track in the world that can produce action like that that... the second closest top 10 in GP history" but sadly without Miller in the mix.
An estimated 40,200 people attended on final day.
