Suzuki: MotoGP needs major changes

Although no firm details have yet been released, minor cost-cutting adjustments - such as reducing the amount of practice and test mileage - have been agreed for 2009.

But the sport's governing body, the FIM, has called for a dramatic re-think of MotoGP's technical regulations in order to reduce costs and entice new entrants, and Denning agrees that this is necessary.

"There is a generic agreement that cutting costs is a fundamental requirement," he told the official MotoGP website.

"It is not a wish, it is a fundamental requirement to safeguard the future of the championship.

"Some of the short term measures that have already been suggested are not going to be very effective, but they may be a minor help.

"The key point is that with the manufacturers, Dorna, IRTA, looking at things from a promoter´s perspective, an organisational perspective, a private team perspective and so on, all factors have to be considered in terms of priority and that big changes are needed, rather than small tweaks.

"I think there need to be some fairly fundamental, sweeping changes, to take a decent percentage out of the costs, in order to make the decision making process easier for manufacturers and teams, for participation and making it more attractive to provide further bikes and expand the championship in the future. That has to be the ultimate target."

MotoGP is currently down to 17 entrants and four manufacturers after the withdrawal of Kawasaki, although the Japanese manufacturer's ex-works bikes could yet reappear with a private team.