Seagull carcass hampered Miller in Australia sprint

A stuck seagull carcass was a major factor in how local hero Jack Miller's ride in MotoGP's Australian Grand Prix sprint panned out - though ultimately didn't contribute to his race-ending crash.

At a Phillip Island track notorious for birds and other animals appearing on the track surface during sessions, Miller hit the seagull immediately after the start on the run down to Turn 1.

"Wasn't ideal," he summarised matter-of-factly. "[It] lodged itself, blew the airbox open, blew open the whole front right-hand side of the bike. Yeah.

"Was hanging around there.

"Second lap, went into Turn 1, obviously with all the buffering from the bikes around me, the seagull was then flapping. It kept getting its head jammed in between the brake lever and the handlebar, so I wasn't able to pull the lever. So that was unreal."

That Turn 1 moment cost Miller a position to Trackhouse Aprilia's Raul Fernandez, and at Turn 2 he then attempted to reach down and remove the carcass manually but to no avail - at which point Miller accepted "the fact that I was going to race with a seagull hanging out of the bike".

It didn't prevent him from running competitive pace from there on, though, and wasn't - to his knowledge - a contributor in his crash out of 10th place, which he said didn't have an obvious explanation but may have been caused by his front tyre cooling in clean air.

An Instagram post from Miller's wife Ruby showed the seagull remains were still embedded in the bike even after his crash.

The seagull 'encounter' came on the same day as Miller had hit a rabbit during Q1, his KTM sustaining cosmetic damage.

"I did my first lap on the wet[-tyred bike], just to have one on the boards. And when I came in, I jumped on the slick bike and went back out, I just wanted to have one on the board in case it sort of pissed down or whatever," Miller recounted.

"Started first flying lap, as I came through out of 6-7, there was a dry line about this big through [Turn 8] Hayshed, and as I saw the change of direction, I saw it coming.

"I thought 'surely it can't be that stupid' but it was. Ran straight under the front tyre. Had a bit of a moment there. Managed to smash everything on its way through."

He specified though that "I don't think that was the issue, why we didn't go through", pointing to the fact he simply wasn't managing to keep the bike on the dry line through corners.

The wildlife is a point of contention at Phillip Island given the obvious safety risks, as emphasised again on Saturday, this time by Pecco Bagnaia.

"We started the warm-up lap and after 200 metres, a flock of seagulls, like 20, crossing the straight. I just [tucked in], luckily nobody hit me but it was already dangerous in that moment," he said.

"For me it's fantastic to ride here, but it's something you can't control. Like the ducks crossing the track, or wallabies. It's something unpredictable, something you can't control.

Phillip Island's wildlife quirk is a real problem

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"It's nice to have this kind of wildlife, but we have to improve it a bit. Maybe trying something. Because it could be dangerous in a race situation. Three ducks crossing the track, maybe the first one can be safe, but all the riders behind could cause a big crash. We have to improve it a bit."

For Miller, however, it is no big deal.

"Ah, man, it is what it is!" he said when asked about it by The Race. "At the end of the day we're in a place where there's wildlife around. It's part of it.

"You see other tracks, we've had dogs and cats and so on. I mean... we're racing in the elements. We're in their territory.

"You need to accept the fact there is going to be wildlife. Unfortunately it was me [hitting it] today."