Hayden's crew chief attacks tyre rules

MotoGP riders are now limited to 14 front tyres and 17 rear tyres per race weekend, with all covers presented and marked before Thursday evening.

The rule has been imposed in an effort to reduce costs for leading tyre manufacturers Michelin and Bridgestone. Dunlop, who only supply the Tech 3 Yamaha team, are not affected by the limitations as they have not won a race in the premier class since the start of the 2005 season.

"This is the top class of motorcycle racing, why should we copy what Formula One does?" asked Benson.

"It's not easy to predict weather, especially at some places like Phillip Island (Australia) where you can literally get four seasons in one day.

"That could leave us in a difficult situation come the race if the riders have to go out on tyres they really don't want to ride."

The MotoGP regulations include a back-up plan in case a tyre manufacturer has a problem with all of its tyres, as happened to Michelin's F1 teams in the 2005 US Grand Prix.

In the event of such a problem, all riders on that brand of tyre are allowed a choice of three fresh tyres, but must go to the back of the grid and line up in the order in which they qualified. They would still be eligible to score points in the race.

But this option was not enough to mollify Benson.

"That back-up is there, but it is not a good siuation," he insisted.