MotoGP 'needs' more controversy like Rossi/Marquez 2015 row

A conflict Miller joked he was "too slow" to see from his Open class LCR Honda, Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo's title fight was hijacked by a high-profile row between Rossi and Marquez in the final rounds of the season.

While the chief of motorcycle racing's governing body said the row had "poisoned" MotoGP and riders were summoned to an extraordinary meeting before the Valencia finale, Miller feels motorcycle racing needs more of it.

"I think it was good," Miller, who did not shy away from controversy during a fight with Marquez's brother Alex for the 2014 Moto3 title, said.

"That's what the sport needs. Everybody thinks it's a disaster, but the sport needs that.

"If you look at how many people were at Valencia watching, that's the busiest paddock and race I've ever seen in my life.

"It was unreal. I think they sold out three times, because they kept on printing more tickets.

"It's going to continue on to next year and definitely a lot of people are going to be watching Qatar."

OPEN ECU EXPERIENCE TO HELP ON FACTORY MACHINERY

The 20-year-old will switch to an outright MotoGP bike in 2016, joining Honda squad Marc VDS alongside Moto2 champion Tito Rabat.

Miller feels his year spent on Magneti Marelli's control ECU for the Open class will help, with factory teams currently struggling to come to grips with new-for-2016 software some riders have dubbed "a step backwards".

"Jumping from Moto3 to MotoGP, no-one said it was going to be easy," he said during last weekend's Perth Speed Fest event in Australia.

"But we were top with our bike in the championship, not quite top of the Open class.

"Next year's going to be a big step, onto a lot better machine and hopefully on the Honda we can fight inside the top 10 all of the time.

"It's going to be a good year, in terms of everybody now coming to the Magneti Marelli software that we already did one year on.

"Having the same bike as Cal [Crutchlow, 2015 LCR team-mate], or Marc [Marquez] or Dani [Pedrosa] is going to also help us as well."