Australia’s Jack Miller (MarcVDS Honda) was fined €1000 ($1483) for shoving Álvaro Bautista (Aspar Racing Team) and kicking his bike after being taken out of the opening laps of the Spanish Grand Prix last night.
The Aussie had shown good pace all weekend, finishing fourth quickest in the morning warm-up and, despite a tumble in qualifying, said he was confident he could produce a season-best finish.
“It was a positive weekend until the race, I had good pace in practice and felt comfortable with the bike,” he said. “I got a good start but got caught up with a bunch of other riders on laps three and four and almost got cleaned up a couple of times.
“Then Álvaro threw it in deep on the brakes, lost the front and took me out when I was on target for another top-10 finish. It was real shame but the positives are that I had great pace and I can take that forward to the race at Le Mans.”
Miller’s very public let go was instigated by the fact that the 22-year-old is in the last year of his three-season contract with HRC and he needs to impress this year if he’s to realise his dream of getting of factory-backed ride in coming seasons.
After the incident, Miller went to Bautista’s garage to clear the air and apologise. Despite this, Race Direction slapped Miller with the fine, declaring his behaviour “detrimental to the interests … of the sport” and classing it as “a moderately serious offence”.
