Motorsport: Rule changes could wreck MotoGP, says Stoner

World champion Casey Stoner says constant changes to MotoGP rules could lead to the undoing of the championship.

The Australian says tampering by the ruling body DORNA has forced manufacturers to develop costly new machines and priced some brands out of the sport.

This season, just three factories were involved in the premier series - Honda, Ducati and Yamaha - while Kawasaki and Suzuki recently withdrew official backing, blaming the global financial crisis.

MotoGP has undergone inexplicable changes over the past decade, switching engine capacities from 500cc to 990cc in 2002, going to 800cc in 2007 before again lifting power to 1000cc this year.

Stoner, who won the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday, has called for more consistency to encourage the category to grow and lure more teams to the grid.

"It just needs to be stable," Stoner told motorcyclenews.com

"The fact is they haven't stopped making changes to the championship.

"It's not the decisions that they're making now that's the problem - it's decisions they made in the past."

Stoner also said the single control tyre meant not everybody could push their bikes hard as it did not suit every rider's style.

"By changing from 500 to 1000, changing from 1000 back to 800, then going with the single tyre rule, you lose all competition," he said.

"So you lose somebody who's maybe not as fast, but on another brand of tyre that was working better on the day pushing themselves up on the podium spot and getting exposure.

"So the smaller teams can get their exposure."

Stoner was also critical of the decision to impose a late weight limit change ahead of 2012.

"The weight limit for the new 1000cc class was initially set at 153kg, but four kilos were suddenly added in December after Honda and Yamaha had spent months developing their bikes.

"They want to cut costs but then put four kilos on the bikes after everyone's already developed them.

"That's cost them a lot of money, especially Honda and Yamaha because I know they were on the legal weight requirement."

The Honda rider said the constantly-changing regulations discouraged smaller teams from entering MotoGP.

"It's about the teams that are planning to come into this championship wanting to make a name for themselves and build up a machine that can be competitive," Stoner said.

"But every year or two, they change the regulations, so where is the money going to come from to develop again for these small teams?

"It's just complicated to figure out why they keep changing things."

- AAP