Assen - Rank-outsider Jack Miller won a chaotic and rain-disrupted Assen MotoGP on Sunday that saw second-placed Marc Marquez consolidate his lead atop the championship standings after his rivals suffered in the wet.
The 21-year-old Australian Miller, riding a Honda Marc VDS, finished ahead of Marquez (Honda) and Briton Scott Redding (Ducati Pramac) for his maiden victory in the elite motorcycling category.
The race started in overcast conditions, but heavy rain started to fall and with 12 laps to go of the fabled Assen circuit the race was red-flagged.
At the time Italians Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati), Danilo Petrucci (Ducati Pramac) and Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) were leading.
The restart after the torrential downpour eased off saw a raft of riders, including the former podium sitters, crash out in the tricky conditions.
"I don't know what to feel at the moment," said Miller, who was listed at 750/1 before the race.
"A lot of people... said this project wasn't going to work and I just hope I've shown them wrong and that I can ride a bike."
Marquez extended his lead over Spanish compatriot Jorge Lorenzo to 24 points.
"Today was a race to lose the points," he said.
"I stayed quiet and really concentrated. I just did my race. I saw Valentino was pushing a lot and I said, 'Ok, I cannot follow him'.
"When I saw him crash I saw Miller was behind me and when he passed me, I just said, 'Ok!'.
"This second place today is like a victory because of the very critical conditions. These 20 points will be really important in the championship race."
MotoGP
1. Jack Miller (AUS/Honda Marc VDS) 22min 17.447sec, 2. Marc Marquez (ESP/Honda) at 1.991sec,3. Scott Redding (GBR/ Ducati Pramac) 5.906, 4. Pol Espargaro (ESP/Yamaha Tech3) 9.812, 5. Andrea Iannone (ITA/Ducati) 17.835, 6. Hector Barbera (ESP/Ducati Avintia) 18.692, 7. Eugene Laverty (IRL/Ducati) 22.605, 8. Stefan Bradl (GER/Aprilia) 23.603, 9. Maverick Vinales (ESP/Suzuki) 26.148, 10. Jorge Lorenzo (ESP/Yamaha) 27.604, 11. Tito Rabat (ESP/Honda Marc VDS) 1:21.830, 12. Dani Pedrosa (ESP/Honda) 1:54.369, 13. Bradley Smith (GBR/Yamaha Tech3) 3 laps