“It's the fourth time” - Jack Miller reveals recurring Yamaha MotoGP issue
A recurring rear brake bracket failure made Jack Miller's Yamaha too dangerous to ride through Assen's high-speed corners in Saturday's MotoGP sprint.
KTM may currently be under the spotlight due to a string of technical issues for the RC16, and especially star rider Pedro Acosta, this season.
However, Jack Miller revealed his retirement from Saturday's Assen MotoGP Sprint was caused by a recurring failure on his Pramac Yamaha.
“The rear brake bracket broke on the first lap. Tried to limp it around as long as I could. Kind of tough around this joint to ride without a rear brake,” he said.
“This is about the fourth time this has happened and second time in a race. It's a problem that we need to fix because it’s a recurring problem.”
The Australian added: “The bracket's just not strong enough. The bracket keeps breaking.”
"Fast, scary stuff"
Miller managed to nurse his M1 to the finish in Jerez but said losing the rear brake at Assen was a “nightmare” because of the circuit's high-speed corners and retired on lap 5.
“It's always difficult, but when it broke in Jerez, I was able to salvage it because it was tough in the hard braking points, but the rest of the corners in Jerez I didn't need it too much," Miller explained.
“Whereas here, Turns 15, 6, and 7 were a complete f**king nightmare. Fast, scary stuff where you're using a fair bit more rear brake than front because you're turning with the front.
“The hard braking zones were what they were. You just can't brake as late if you need to.
“But those [fast] corners were dodgy, and I was running it really deep at six, bouncing the front quite a bit just trying to decelerate, and I was like, ‘f**k, I can't do this’, so I opted to pull in.
“Normally I wouldn't, but it was just getting unsafe.”
“We're 10 kilos overweight"
With Fabio Quartararo revealing on Friday that Yamaha's V4 is around 10kg overweight, Miller was asked if the bracket failure could be the result of weight-saving measures.
“We're 10 kilos overweight. I don't think 30 grams is going to make a big difference,” he said.
Quartararo finished as the top Yamaha rider in tenth on Saturday, with Alex Rins 15th, Toprak Razgatlioglu 17th and wildcard Augusto Fernandez 18th.
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