Jack Miller has revealed he was battling with a shoulder injury he suffered on the run-up to the MotoGP race in Texas, in which he finished ninth on his Pramac Ducati.
The Australian was mountain bike training in California following the Argentine Grand Prix when he crashed and suffered a tear on the rotator cuff on his right shoulder and a cracked collarbone.
Miller started from 18th after losing one of his bikes in a crash prior to qualifying, but fought through the field to take ninth in the closing stages despite his “not ideal” physical condition.
“I was struggling with a shoulder injury that I carried into the weekend, not ideal,” said Miller in his blog on redbull.com.
“We kept pretty quiet about the shoulder all weekend, but now we're done I can admit that it wasn't great.
“I was out training California after Argentina, and I fell off doing some mountain biking.
“The injuries are nothing that some rest time and recovery can't handle, but I ended up with ome muscle damage, some bruising and a little tear on my rotator cuff on my right shoulder.
“And a crack in my collarbone as well. I tell you, sometimes the time between the races can be more dangerous than the race weekends themselves.”
Miller – who was on pole in Argentina – was left frustrated after being unable to fight for a place in Q2, but was happier to come away from his crash in FP4 unscathed at a track he feels there are “no small crashes” at.
“I had a crash in final practice just before qualifying and had to use my second bike for Q1, so that was partly the reason I struggled and only started from 18th,” he added.
“Saying that, 18th and not hurting myself again after the injury I came in with actually wasn't a bad result – there are no small crashes here because of the nature of this track, as I found out a few years ago when I had to miss the race here.
“So, 18th sucked, but being upright and not too sore afterwards was a win of sorts.”
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