MILLER SET TO SIGN ON DOTTED LINE

AUSSIE Motogp star Jack Miller is “just days away” from signing a contract to stay with the Pramac Ducati team for 2020.

The Townsville rider said contract talks were wrapping up and could even be signed and sealed when the Motogp season resumes this weekend in the Czech Republic after the mid-year break.

“Yeah, we’re pretty close. Most of it’s done, we’re just working on some of the details,’’ Miller said.

“But I’ll be riding with the Pramac Ducati team next year.’’

Miller, 24, will get the new Ducati Desmosedici GP20 to ride next year as will teammate Pecco Bagnaia.

The sole Aussie in the premier category, Miller hopes a re-signed deal will kick his season along even further, sitting in seventh place in the championship at the halfway mark – his best season so far.

Miller (70 points) is just 10 points behind Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi and three ahead of gun rookie Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) and former teammate

(Honda).

“The second half of the season has some of the tracks where I go pretty well and have picked up some points in the past – Malaysia, San Marino and, of course, Phillip Island,’’ Miller said.

“And so far this year we’ve shown that we’ve been there Cal Crutchlow or thereabouts.’’ Miller has recorded one podium (a third in the US), and has never been worse than ninth in six finishes.

Only his three retirements have slowed his progress.

Miller has enjoyed three weeks back in Townsville relaxing with family and only bobbed up on a dirt bike in the Ayr Motorcycle Club’s King of the Canefields event earlier this month, when he finished runner-up.

Miller is now heading to Brno, a circuit that has not been a happy hunting ground in the past.

Honda’s defending world champion Marc Marquez is set to continue his dominance. The Spaniard has won five races and was runner-up in another three, setting up a 58-point lead over Ducati factory rider Andrea Dovizioso.

In Moto2, Australian Remy Gardner is hoping to regain his early-season spark when he secured a fourth and a second in the opening rounds.

Main Picture: GETTY IMAGES

RACING ONWARDS: Townsville’s Jack Miller lifts his front wheel during the Motogp Red Bull US Grand Prix of The Americas in April and, inset, Miller at a press conference in Spain in May.