Jack Miller sees chance of podium go up in smoke after contact from opponent provokes fourth-lap crash. Karel Hanika, twenty-third, completes the race after a crash of his own.

The Red Bull KTM Ajo team had a disappointing Sunday at the Aragon Grand Prix. Jack Miller was unable to cap an excellent weekend of practices with a positive result on race day, due to contact with a fellow rider at the start of the race sending him to ground. His teammate also suffered from a lack of luck, as Karel Hanika was caught out by mixed track conditions and crashed on lap two. Both remounted to take the chequered flag, with Hanika 23rd and Miller 27th.

Jack Miller made another of his superb starts, in a race that was delayed because of fog early in the morning. In half wet, half dry conditions, the Australian gained three places to lead after the opening lap. Out in front, the Australian entered the last corner of the fourth lap and was hit on the inside by another rider -leading to a crash. The incident -later examined by Race Direction- forced him to take a trip back to the pits. The Red Bull KTM Ajo mechanics got his bike back in condition to rejoin the race, and Miller completed the contest purely as a matter of pride.

Meanwhile, Karel Hanika moved up three positions when the lights went out. On the second lap, however, he lost the rear of his bike coming out of the corkscrew at Turn 9 and crashed. The Czech picked up his bike and completed the race in twenty-third position -despite a missing footpeg.

With 4 races remaining in the World Championship, Jack Miller is second with 195 points and 11 off the top spot. Karel Hanika is eighteenth with 24 points. The next race is at the Motegi Circuit (Japan), in a fortnight, and the October 12th round starts a run of three consecutive Grands Prix.

Results – Race
1. Romano Fenati (KTM) 40:52.209
2. Alex Marquez (Honda) +0.057
3. Danny Kent (Red Bull Husqvarna Ajo) +0.283
4. Alex Rins (Honda) +11.631
5. Jakub Kornfeil (KTM) +18.382
23. Karel Hanika (Red Bull KTM Ajo) +1:37.368
27. Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 3 laps

Moto3 World Championship Standing 2014
1. Alex Marquez (Honda) 206 points
2. Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 195 points
3. Alex Rins (Honda) 188 points
4. Romano Fenati (KTM) 165 points
5. Efren Vazquez (Honda) 154 points
18. Karel Hanika (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 24 points

Jack Miller >> Audio (solely for radio use)

“In the crash, Marquez had tried to overtake me on the straight but did not have the pace to do so. On the entry to the corner I was on the dry line and went in normally. I knew Marquez would try to block off inside corner, but he did not cut the gas and made me fall off the bike. Sometimes these things happen -it’s racing. I’m happy and I want to thank the whole team, because they were able to repair the bike after it was pretty damaged and I was able to get back on track for a few laps. Now we head to a circuit that I like and we’ll see what happens.”

Karel Hanika >> Audio (solely for radio use)

“Friday was a good day for me and my team because we completely changed the bike and our way of working. This morning in the wet I also had a good feeling, but the race was bad for us. It was unfortunate for us, because everything was going quite well: I started from 17th but by the second lap I noticed I was losing a lot of grip on the rear wheel and my bike was sliding out on the second turn of the corkscrew. I don’t think that it was entirely my mistake, but I’m sure I could have done better. Now it’s time to focus on the upcoming races in Asia. If we continue to work as we have done this weekend, we can get good results.”

Aki Ajo – Team Manager

“I have to say that the work we have been carrying out with Jack [Miller] all weekend has been very good. We have commented before with Jack that we have to keep working, because from the first lap on Friday we have been focusing on race pace -and so far it has worked out. The weather conditions changed suddenly today, but we did a very good job this morning in the warmup with both Jack and Karel [Hanika] and it seemed that both riders had a good pace in the wet. Everything seemed fine until another rider made a strange move on the last corner. We’ll see what happens about this. Jack was doing very well up until then, but could not do anything else.

For Karel this has not been an easy weekend. He finally found good conditions and feeling when riding. The qualifying session was not the best for him, but he had good pace. Today in the wet warmup he also developed very well on track. In the race he fell after committing a small error. He was able to rejoin the race, but it was very difficult.

We have to keep working just as we have done so far, because there are still 4 very important races to go.”