This week we were stoked to learn that young Aussie Jack Miller has been rewarded for his talent and persistence in the Moto3 ranks and has picked up a ride with Ajo Motorsports on a KTM for 2014.

This is a massive development. He’ll be slotting into the seat vacated by Luis Salom when he moves to Moto2, and if his form on inferior machinery is anything to go by, could be right in the mix for race wins.

Let’s look at it a little closer. Jack constantly qualifies his Honda within the top five, and has scored a career best of fourth place, just one place off the front row, a few times.

From there we’ve seen him make lightning starts, recently battling for the lead of the race. He can keep pace with the frontrunners for some time, but when the field begins to separate, the KTM machines always pull clear.

He’s achieved a sixth place, and a bunch of sevenths, but that really is all he can hope for on the current bike, unless of course the riders in front of him crash or have a mechanical failure.

The KTM is in a league of its own, and it currently leads the points race at the hands of Salom. We’re not even close to the end of 2013, and 2014 is already shaping up as a brilliant year.

Jack Miller will move to the vacant Red Bull KTM Ajo Motorsport seat next year. Image: MotoGP.com.

There’s also the chance that he’ll team with current Ajo Motorsport man and fellow Aussie Arthur Sissis.

Sissis isn’t confirmed for 2014 as yet. From what we can gather, the team have confirmed Zulfhami Khairuddin to return, and are assessing the rider who will best fit in that seat. Alex Rins has been mentioned, as have some Red Bull Rookies racers.

But wouldn’t it be an awesome thing to have both Aussies riding Red Bull KTM? Let’s hope it pans out that way!

Late mail last week was the recruitment of Aussie Jason O’Halloran to fill in for injured rider Mike Di Meglio at JiR in the Moto2 field at Silverstone.

It was good to see Jason make steady forwards progress after each session, and come home with a race finish. The out-of-the-blue opportunity marked his grand prix debut, and shows he is highly-regarded both from an international perspective, and within the wider Honda family.

Here’s hoping that his performance can open further doors along the way as he also chases success in British Supersport.

Daniel Falzon will have form on his side in the Northern Territory after taking out a recent TERRA series round. Image: Toby Lynch.

This time next week riders and teams will have well and truly arrived in Darwin for the penultimate round of the Australian Superbike Championship.

It will be different heading to the Top End in September, rather than April. The earlier event was always super-hot and humid, and brought rain at some stage. From the long-range forecast all we can see is cloudless skies and 33 or 34 degree days – it’s going to be baking up there!

Given its relative distance from, well, pretty much anywhere, there are few chances to test at Hidden Valley.

It was interesting to note, however, that current Supersport points leader Daniel Falzon actually travelled to Darwin to compete in the local Top End Road Racing Association (TERRA) races at the track last weekend.

As you’d expect, he wiped the floor with the other riders, and from what we understand, that was only on a spare bike.

We’re certainly very interested to see how the Supersport battle plays out in the NT, as we are with Superbikes, and all of the participating classes.

Sharing the spotlight with the Australian Supercross Championship will hopefully equal more people trackside and give the event a boost after its numbers fell slightly each year after its inaugural staging in 2010.

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