Jack Miller's stunning maiden MotoGP win this week could not have come at a better time for the sport in Australia and the Phillip Island round of the world championship.
As an outspoken underdog the 21-year-old Townsville rider has seemingly had all the ingredients to become a crowd favourite, but until last weekend's Dutch MotoGP at Assen he lacked one string to his bow – big-time winner.
Forget for a moment that Miller's victory came in a race that was held in a torrential downpour resulting in key retirements and a mere 12-lap shootout. The key ingredient is that Miller has made a success of his move from Moto3 and then to a battling Honda outfit where wins were not expected
After starting 19th on the grid, Miller's boot-drinking victory antics on the podium is just the sort of celebration that will endear him to a new generation of Australian MotoGP enthusiasts – a crowd that had been thinning after the golden years in the aftermath of sporting giants Mick Doohan and Casey Stoner.
While the punters still get their fill of MotoGP on TV, they've been increasingly reluctant to turn up at Phillip Island for the Australian round of the world championship.
The lack of a local hero has been one factor, while the fan forums also suggest that the increasingly tight policing and price of attendance has made some riders re-think Phillip Island on race weekend as an enjoyable place to take the road bike for a spin.
When Stoner won the last of his six-consecutive Phillip Island events in his final full season of 2012, he was cheered on by more than 50,000 fans. That figure in recent years has dropped to the 30,000 range, although Miller's emergence to win the Moto3 category in 2014 did give organisers some hint of a brighter future.
From a high of 122,470 for the three days of the MotoGP in 2012, attendances slumped to 77,200 in 2013 and 74,900 in 2014 before rebounding to 84,100 last year.
Australian Grand Prix Corporation chief executive Andrew Westacott was yesterday quick to spruik the nation's first MotoGP winner since Stoner. "We would like to congratulate Jack and his family on this incredible achievement and trust this will inspire fans to snap up our ticket offer and head to Philip Island in October to soak up everything that the event has to offer," he said.
Time will tell whether the AGPC's reported bump in ticket sales will roll on until October, but Miller hasn't hurt the chances of renewed interest with his aggressive bite back at those who sniped at his quick rise through the ranks.
"A lot of people have bad-mouthed us and said that this project wouldn't work," he said. "I just hope we've showed them wrong, and I can ride the bike, and I'm not an idiot."
It's a sentiment, no doubt, all too familiar to major event organisers.
