Monster Yamaha's Cal Crutchlow has likened fighting with Dani Pedrosa over the duration of a MotoGP race as battling with a machine, saying that because the front-running factory riders almost never make errors, putting a pass on them is very difficult.

The Briton, who was fourth behind Pedrosa in last Sunday's Jerez thriller, said he realised with ten laps to go he wouldn't be able to pass the tiny Spaniard and that, if he did, he would lose out in a drag to the finish line.

"They don't make any mistakes. That's the problem with them. You're battling with guys who make absolutely zero mistakes and if they do, they crash. They don't run wide or anything. They are machines and that is why they have been at the front of this championship for so many years. It's nice to be up there. Dani set a relentless pace at, I felt I could stay with him but passing was a different story. It wasn't going to happen, I knew that from about ten laps to go," said Crutchlow, speaking to bikesportnews.com this afternoon.

"Our package is a lot better for fast, flowing corners than stop-start stuff. Around Jerez, our bike wheelies too much, we don't have enough acceleration compared to the Honda - or we have and the traction control and wheelie control cuts in but the way the Honda acclerates, you can never get alongside it. If I'd passed Dani in the last corner, he would have beaten me to the line anyway.

"I'm realistic, I know I'm not going to win the world title so if I can do well in a few races then I will be happy. Some races are going to be a lot tougher than it was at Jerez or Qatar. Overall, as a base, the Yamaha is not that bad. We don't have to do too much - at Jerez I changed one spring all weekend, that was it. The Japanese said you just have to learn to ride a MotoGP bike, I said that wasn't true but maybe they were right!"

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