Marco Bezzecchi
Jack Miller has raced against some of the all-time greats on MotoGP. With 189 race starts, he’s one of the top three most experienced riders on the grid.
Miller graduated to the premier class in 2015, the high-point of Marc Marquez’s bitter rivalry with Valentino Rossi. Jorge Lorenzo capitalised on their squabble to win the world championship.
The field that year also included Dani Pedrosa, who never won a top-tier title but ranks inside the top six overall for victories. 2006 world champion Nicky Hayden rode a Honda bike, just like Miller.
More recently, Miller has gone up against superstars like Francesco Bagnaia (his former Ducati teammate) and Fabio Quartararo. Racing for Yamaha satellite team Pramac, he can directly compare himself to El Diablo.
Jack Miller names Casey Stoner and Mick Doohan on dream MotoGP starting grid
In an interview with TNT Sports before the summer break, Miller was asked to name his dream MotoGP grid. He was able to pick six riders, effectively forming two rows.
His first choice was Barry Sheene, who remains the last British rider to win a premier-class championship. He selected two of his compatriots in Mick Doohan, who was invincible between 1994 and 1998, and Casey Stoner, triumphant in 2007 and 2011.
Miller’s line-up also included Rossi, still the most successful rider of the modern era, and the late Hayden. He put himself in the final slot, which meant there was no place for Marquez.
Still, Miller’s grid boasts a combined 17 titles and over 200 Grand Prix victories. It’s inevitable that some legendary figures have to be left out.
The six riders Marc Marquez named when asked the same question
Miller is a huge admirer of Marquez, even if he didn’t make the aforementioned list. He’s spoken of his unique ‘aura’ in the paddock, and marvelled at his ‘racehorse’ physique.
When TNT asked him the same question, Marquez also picked Rossi, Stoner and Doohan. He too put himself forward, and also went for Lorenzo and Pedrosa.
Marquez is looking to establish himself as statistically the greatest of all time now that he’s joined the dominant Ducati team. A seventh MotoGP title appears a formality.
Marquez needs 20 more wins to break Rossi’s record (89). He could theoretically do that midway through next year, and few would rule this out given his imperious winning streak.
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