Jack Miller came out the wrong side of a 'good clean battle' with former team-mate Tito Rabat over eighth place on th🍌e final lap ofไ Sunday's Austin MotoGP.

The Australian held the advantage heading ✃into the closing stages, but lost the front ofꦬ his Pramac Ducati while trying to escape his fellow GP17 rider, who was able to retaliate a few turns from the finish.

Earlier, both had m🐼ade their way past struggling factory Ducati rider Jorge Lorenzo.

However Miller's pass was a little too close for comfort after the Argentina pole sitter was forced tﷺo make an unplanned, last-minute dive f✃or the apex.

"I went to say sorry after the race," Miller said. "I bottomed outꦚ at turn one and he [Lorenzo] was running a strange line - q♉uite wide in there.

"I'd bottomed out right at the base of the hill and t𓃲hen it sort of carried on up the hill, bouncing off the bump stops, and right as I got to the top the front started locking.

"I could have stopped for the corner but I was either going to have to try and go around the outside oཧf him - but he was already so wide - or try to go up the inside. Those were the options.

Lorenzo, a bitterly dis🔯appointed eleventh at the finish, referenced talk of harsher penalties for aggressive riding when he said𒈔 of the incident:

“Things didn't change so much, no?

“If I don't pick up the bike, I crash. So if the rider doesn't impact y🍬ou or you don't crash, they [Race Directionꦏ] don't do anything.

"Always the same riders, these actions.

"But [my] race has been so bad that itဣ's not worth speaking about these things.🎉”

Turniไng to his last lap sh💃owdown with Rabat, Miller explained.

"As soon as I got to the front o🐼f the group I went [quicker] into the miℱddle 2m 06s, but the next lap I had a little mistake when I lost the front in the right hander through the stadium section. Had to save it on the elbow and it allowed Tito to catch back on me.

"Then on the last lap he passed me in the braking zone after the back straight. I ran wide, so I knew he was right there and I reಌally protected the line, braked quite early and went to the kerb.

"🌞At the last minute I saw a front wheel there so I﷽ had to pick the bike up, but it was quite fun to have a little dice like that on the last lap.

"It's never nice to come out second in the battle. But it was a good clean battle, we d♍idn’t touch and a good race for us - coming from where we qualified [18th] to where we finished and to fight with those guys I can be really happy."

Miller is eighth in the world championship, one place and fo🌄ur poi🧔nts in front of Rabat.

Lorenzo's team﷽-mate Andrea Dovizioso was the top Ducati rider at COTA, in sixth.