Jack Miller surprisingly ignores one MotoGP legend from his dream starting grid

Pramac Yamaha MotoGP rider Jack Miller has picked his dream grid of rivals, featuring two underrated champions.

But one prominent name is missing.

The 2025 season marks Jack Miller’s 11th in the premier class, having made his debut in 2015 straight out of Moto3.

In that time, Miller has won four grands prix and has ridden for four of MotoGP’s top marques, beginning his career with Honda, before moving to Ducati, then KTM and now Yamaha.

Miller was at Honda as Marc Marquez began to dominate, partnered Pecco Bagnaia on his ascendency at Ducati and got a glimpse at the data of MotoGP’s newest hot property in Pedro Acosta at KTM.

Asked by TNT Sport prior to the summer break who his dream set of rivals on the front two rows would be, Miller included himself alongside: “Barry Sheene, Mick Doohan, Nicky Hayden, Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner.”

Jack Miller leaves Marc Marquez out of his dream grid

Of that crop, Miller only ever raced against 2006 world champion Nicky Hayden and nine-time grand prix title winner Valentino Rossi.

Miller made his debut in Hayden’s final year in MotoGP in 2015, when the late American rode for the Aspar squad on an Open class Honda.

At the 2016 Aragon Grand Prix, Hayden was called up by the Marc VDS Honda squad to replace the injured Miller. He scored a point in 15th.

Hayden, who had switched to World Superbikes with Honda for 2016, tragically died from injuries sustained in a road traffic accident in 2017 while he was cycling in Italy.

Miller’s first full-time season in grand prix racing in the Moto3 class in 2012 is the only time he shared the paddock with double world champion and fellow Australian Casey Stoner.

Stoner, who won MotoGP titles in 2007 with Ducati and 2011 with Honda, competed in his final season in 2012 before retiring.

Mick Doohan is arguably Australia’s greatest motorsport name, having come back from serious injury in 1992 to win five 500cc world titles consecutively from 1994 to 1998.

Barry Sheene remains Britain’s most recent premier class world champion.

The popular Brit won the 500cc world title in 1976 in what proved to be a banner year for UK motorsport, with James Hunt - a similarly charismatic character - taking his only Formula 1 crown that season.

Sheene followed up his 1976 title with another 500cc crown the following year.

In his later life, Sheene was a fixture of Australian TV coverage of motorsport before his death from cancer in 2003.

No British rider won a grand prix title again until 2015, when Danny Kent was crowned Moto3 champion the same year Miller made his MotoGP debut.

Miller’s good friend and former LCR team-mate Cal Crutchlow became Britain’s first premier class race winner since Sheene in 1981 when he took to the top step of the podium at the 2016 Czech Grand Prix.