Runaway MotoGP series leader Casey Stoner is surprised by the recent slump in form by challenger and reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo over the last two races with the Spaniard only netting a brace of fourths.

Lorenzo's performance on the YZR-M1 has given Stoner a 44-point lead but the Australian has said that he will not just ride around for points unless there is something drastically wrong with his setup or there is a serious lack of pace in the coming races.

"I was a bit surprised this weekend that he was struggling so much as he is quite good on this circuit. Ben was going well all weekend so I was a little bit surprised that Jorge wasn't quite there. It looked like he was going to be through qualifying and warm up but he struggled a bit during the race," said the 2007 world champion, speaking to bikesportnews.com

"I am sure in these next race, especially Misano is going to be a good track for him and last year he was pretty quick at Aragon so it's going to be a tough championship. He seemed to be on the back foot from the start at Indy.

"We were confident we could pull a gap and maintain it. You know I'm not going to go out and just settle, but I will settle if things aren't right. If the bike doesn't feel right or things aren't working for us over the weekend and on raceday we just haven't got it then I will settle, but I'm also going to give it one hell of a shot."