Stoner slams Rossi 'more tyres' plea.

World champion elect Casey Stoner has hit out at MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi's call for a change in the current tyre regulations, accusing the Italian of not being able to cope with a difficult season.

Speaking to Australia's Melbourne Age newspaper, the Ducati rider said that Rossi needed to stop 'whinging' and get on with the regulations, which were brought in at the start of the year in an effort to contain costs. Under the new regulation, Michelin is prevented from bringing specially-constructed tyres to events - something it used to do even on the eve of race day of qualifying had not been promising - with all riders restricted to 17 nominated rear tyres for each race weekend.

"This rule is not good and we need more tyres," Rossi said earlier in the week, "The problem is for the show because, at the end, it is the tyre that decides the race."

Stoner has been the revelation of the season so far, taking on the much vaunted Rossi-Yamaha combination and winning six of the eleven races to date to open out a commanding 44-point cushion over the Italian, who has missed opportunities to close the gap when the Ducati-Bridgestone alliance has been weaker than his Michelin-shod Yamaha. Rossi has three wins to his credit so far, including hunting down early leader Stoner at Assen, but his return is a far cry from the years of Michelin dominance, in which he won five world titles and more than 60 races.

"At the beginning of the season, Valentino and the others were all for the new tyre rules," Stoner points out, "but, as soon as they don't win, the rule is crap. I've had my bad races this year, especially in Germany, and I'm not complaining about the tyre rule.

"They can moan and whinge about it as much as they want, but it shows that [Michelin] has had such an advantage in the past. This season, they cannot bring a tyre in just for the race [and] it's a matter of relying on the company that supports you to do a good job."

Interestingly, Rossi's crew chief, Australian Jerry Burgess, is in favour of keeping the rules as they are.

"The tyre rule has not been the main reason for Valentino not winning races this season," he said enigmatically, "I like the rule, it's equal for everyone and think it should stay."