Miller,
Quartararo
At Odds
T
ensions rose post-race in
Indonesia between Fabio
Quartararo and Jack Miller, after
the pair had made contact when
battling for second place. The
Australian was none too pleased
that the Yamaha man brushed his
right leg when passing. "He pro-
ceeded to ride his motorcycle into
my leg," said Miller. "I'll quite hap-
pily have a word with him about
this. The Yamaha turns well. But
that doesn't mean you open gas
and aim for my front tire. He rode
into the side of my leathers. It was
an unnecessary risk."
But Quartararo was having
none of it.
"I don't care," he said when
it was put to him that Miller was
upset. "He is the one in the past
that also had some aggressive
moves. I think my move was
really not aggressive. Just didn't
expect to touch. My touch was
not something big. Was a really
small touch. I don't know if you
watch on TV, but before to talk, I
think he better watch, because I
didn't make nothing wrong."
Neil Morrison
VOLUME 59 ISSUE 12 MARCH 22, 2022 P29
The friendship between
Fabio Quartararo (20)
and Jack Miller (43) was
strained at Mandalika.
MotoGP
Runs… Just!
S
igns the Indonesian track
surface that was put down
after the MotoGP test was com-
ing apart became clear after the
Moto3 race. The Moto2 race
was shortened from 25 laps to
16. And MotoGP down to 20
from 27. The asphalt in turns
two, three and 17 was coming
apart. After the Moto2 race, Sam
Lowes noted, "The only place I
could notice was T17. If the Mo-
toGP race is dry... it's very bad.
They won't get back. Bad."
The rain helped. Only, it inten-
sified before the race and led to
a 75-minute delay. With the ma-
jority of the paddock booked on
flights out of Lombok on Sunday
evening, there was a real fear the
main event wouldn't go ahead.
Even a rain shaman was paraded
down pit lane to stop the rain!
In the wet, MotoGP riders said
conditions weren't so bad. "The
last corner was five or six places
where the tarmac was really out.
But then I felt that the tarmac was
not too bad. Apart of the last cor-
ner, I think everything was quite
OK," said Fabio Quartararo.
Neil Morrison
The rain subsided just
enough to let the MotoGP
boys race, but the track
will need some more
repairs in Indonesia.
