MOTOGP: Miller conflicted on summer break

MotoGP's newest winner Jack Miller is torn between the summer break potentially halting his rising momentum and giving him time to help his recovering leg.

The Marc VDS rider broke the tibia and fibula in his right leg in a training crash in January, missing the first pre-season test and then battling through the other two.

While he did not miss a race, he crashed during practice for the race at Austin in April, landing on and re-injuring the leg.

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Its condition has improved since, and the Australian has recorded his three best MotoGP race results in the last three grands prix.

A then career-best 10th at Barcelona was followed by his breakthrough victory at Assen and seventh in similarly changeable conditions at the Sachsenring, and only championship leader Marc Marquez has scored more points in that time.

"It would be good to keep going, to keep the ball rolling, we're on a bit of a confidence roll, but it's also nice to have another little break," he said. "It's a little bit of a shame after Assen that we had that gap, so it's like three summer breaks almost [between the Barcelona, Assen, Sachsenring and Red Bull Ring races], which is a little bit s***. But I'm looking forward to having a little break, but also getting right into the training and that, keep the ball going, and come back to Austria even stronger and then hit the second half of the season hard.

"I look forward to coming back, coming to more and more tracks that I really like."

Miller says regular top-10 finishes are now his priority in his second season in MotoGP, following his tough 2015 rookie campaign stepping straight up from Moto3.

"Top-10s, we need to be doing that every race, that's what we need," he said. "It's easy to say but of course at this level it's hard to do. We are just getting more and more confident, and the last three races no crashes it's been really nice, and really good for my confidence as well."

Now six months on since the initial break and more than three since the Austin fall, Miller feels his right leg is "getting close."

"It's running about 85-90 percent now," he said. "It's not perfect but it's not too bad. It's just the pivot on my ankle because it's full of screws. I don't have quite the side motion that I want for the rolling, especially for hanging off the right hand side of the bike. We definitely need to work on that a little more, but we're doing the best we can at the moment with what we've got."

MOTOGP POINTS IN LAST THREE RACES

Marc Marquez - 65
Jack Miller - 40
Valentino Rossi - 33
Dani Pedrosa & Cal Crutchlow - 30
Scott Redding - 29

Originally on Autosport.com