2014 Phillip Island Moto3 Preview
With his victory last week at the Motul Grand Prix of Japan at Twin Ring Motegi, Alex Marquez (Estrella Galicia 0,0) stretched his 11 point lead over Australian Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Ajo) to 25 points over the former series leader.
And things for the Marquez family are going well, considering his older brother – the 21-year-old Marc Marquez – clinched the 2014 MotoGP title at Motegi.
During the first of three back-to-back rounds at Motegi, Miller was only able to do no better than fifth. Miller held on to second place in the series with 206 points, but is only 12 points ahead of hard-charging Alex Rins, who is the Spaniard Marquez’s teammate.
All that said, Phillip Island is home turf for Miller. He had finished fifth at the Australian circuit a year ago, so this may be an opportune time for Miller to get back on the podium and close the gap, which he’ll need to do quickly with only three Moto3 rounds to go.
If Miller has any home track advantage at Phillip Island, he may need to press it with Alex Rins closing in on him in the standings since Rins rode to victory there last year. Rins is 37 points out of first place with 194.
Romano Fenati (SKY Racing Team VR46) and Efren Vazquez (SaxoPrint-RTG) are tied for fourth place with 174 points apiece. Vazquez placed second and Fenati was seventh at Motegi, keeping each in the title hunt, if only in a remote statistical sense.
Alexis Masbou (Ongetta-Rivacold) is 34 points behind the Vazquez and Fenati and has the ability to play the spoiler.
