Updated Aug 31, 2015 at 3:10p ET
LCR Honda's Jack Miller had fans on the edge of their seats as he cut through the field on the opening laps of Sunday's British Grand Prix.
Miller was making the most of a heavy downpour, with his Open Honda on more level ground in the wet, allowing the young Australian to display his raw talent and speed. He quickly found himself battling with the factory riders and was fighting for a potential podium when disaster struck.
Miller had been attempting to hold off Pol Espargaro on the brakes, but went too deep, crashing and taking down teammate Cal Crutchlow.
This incident was investigated by race direction and Miller was handed a penalty point as a result. It has not been as easy year for Miller, the step up from the Moto3 World Championship has been difficult resulting in a number of crashes for the Australian, especially in races. The opening laps of the British GP demonstrated that Miller has speed, but also that there is still a lot to learn. Fortunately Miller and his team were able to improve the setting with their bike and are confident for Misano.
"I'm happy with the weekend, but of course not happy with the result of the race," said Miller. "I want to say a big sorry to Cal for taking him out, but we were both pushing hard. I didn't actually mean to overtake him, I was just trying to hold Espargaro off on the brakes and accidently went too deep and touched him. It was an accident, but all in all it was a good weekend as we found some settings with the bike. We became more comfortable with it and I'm looking forward to Misano. Misano is a good track for me, I like it a lot. It will be a new surface this year so I look forward to seeing what the grip level is like as last year was quite low, but it should be interesting."
Meanwhile, Crutchlow - who had worked his way into podium contention in front of his home fans - had returned to the pits after the collision, swapping to his other machine. This bike was setup for the dry but had wet tires fitted. Crutchlow was unable to make up any ground and soon fell.
This marked yet another year of bad luck for Crutchlow at his home race. The Brit seems to attract misfortune when at home, but he has not let it frustrate him nor does he hold a grudge against his teammate for the incident. With 74 points, Crutchlow sits 10th in the MotoGP World Championship standings, but eighth is within reach with a strong end to the season. It was announced at the start of the British GP weekend that Crutchlow will remain with his LCR Honda team in 2016 allowing the Coventry rider to approach the end of the season fully focused.
"Obviously I'm really disappointed, we could have done a great race today, I thought I had the pace to be with the winner," said Crutchlow. "I felt really comfortable this morning in the rain and I felt really comfortable in the race, but these things happen. Jack is young, he was near to the front in a MotoGP race and made an ambitious move. He made a mistake, he apologized and I have accepted his apology. I've done it before and I'm sure I will do it again - this is racing, but obviously I was very disappointed."
"I came in and we changed the bike, but as soon as I went out of the pitlane I crashed immediately because it was a dry setting on that bike and there is a big, big difference. I was not really going to carry on too much as I was too far behind the leader at that point, but it was a good job by the LCR Honda team this weekend and I really appreciate all the fan support as they really helped us."
