“You’ve just got to ride it”: Jack Miller on “kind of fun” element of Suzuka 8 Hours
Jack Miller speaks about a particular element of the Suzuka 8 Hours he finds “kind of fun”.
MotoGP rider Jack Miller has raced the Suzuka 8 Hours three times, and still finds one of its unique elements “kind of fun”.
Miller’s Suzuka debut came back in 2017 with the HARC-PRO Honda team, and only returned in the last two years with Yamaha’s factory team, finishing second on each occasion aboard the YZF-R1.
The Australian is plenty used to racing and racing in different disciplines. He’s raced Australian Superbike and even Australian championship motocross, as well as MotoGP of course, but there’s an aspect of endurance racing that really appeals to the five-time premier class grand prix winner.
“I feel like I’m able to adapt pretty well to other guys’ bikes,” Jack Miller explained in an interview with Crash.net ahead of the British MotoGP.
“At the end of the day, [at Suzuka] you’ve kind of got to ride somebody else’s bike – might not love it, love it or hate it in another spot, in certain spots of the track, but you’ve kind of got to wrap your head around it, what that setup does better.
“You’ve just got to get on the bike and ride it, which is kind of fun because it takes that whole element out of it where you’re thinking ‘Should we do this or should we do that’.
“You’re just focusing on the riding, what you can do as a rider, so it’s kind of nice to step away and approach a race at a different angle, and just try and work on what you have control over, which is basically how you’re riding the bike.”
The 2026 8 Hours took place in the rain, which Miller admitted made it feel even longer, especially with back-to-back stints on the bike.
But he enjoyed it, and finished second with Yamaha, even if he thinks the circuit isn’t suitable for MotoGP.
“It was good, it was tricky,” the Pramac Yamaha rider said.
“Eight hours in the rain was a long fucking time in the rain, I can assure you, and then we went back-to-back, so it was a lot of time on the bike.
“I enjoyed it. Suzuka’s an unreal event, especially to fly in, smash it out like we did, and then get back out and go racing [each] weekend either side of it was really cool.
“I enjoy Suzuka a lot, the Japanese fans, the organisation is fantastic, the fans are unreal. I love racing Suzuka, the track itself is phenomenal, especially there on the endurance bikes.
“Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s too small for MotoGP bikes, but on the endurance bikes you can get away with it for sure, and it’s a lot of fun.”
Alex joined the Crash.net team in August of 2024 having covered consumer and racing motorcycle news at Visordown for two years.
