Jack Miller’s Saturday at the 2024 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix was severely hindered by several wildlife strikes in qualifying and the sprint. The KTM rider had to go through the Q1 session on Saturday morning, but couldn’t advance on 16th after a rabbit strike left his RC16 fairing with damage. Then in the sprint, Miller hit a seagull on the opening lap at Turn 1 which left a “gaping hole” on the right side of his front fairing. The dead bird got wedged between the fairing and the brake lever, while the damage to his bike led to a severe drop in straightline speed. The Australian was able to make his way up to eighth despite all of this, before a “nothing crash” ended his race on lap eight of 13. “It could have been a better Saturday,” Miller began. “I had a good start in the Sprint from a not-great qualifying position and tipping into Turn 1 off the start a seagull flew into the front of the bike, which wasn’t ideal. “I tried to do what I could on the first lap to get rid of it but I couldn’t so I focused on the job at hand, […]