"Melandri set to ride on"

Marco Melandri seems likely to continue riding for the Ducati team in the Czech Republic.

Marco Melandri looks set to retain his trip with the Marlboro Ducati team for the next round of the MotoGP campaign in the Czech Republic.

Melandri contract for 2009 with the team was cancelled by mutual consent earlier this month after a disappointing season so far for the Italian, with rumors of the surface after the U.S. Grand Prix at Laguna Seca could be his last trip aboard the Desmosedici factory.

That race did not go to plan for Melandri, fell when well placed, while within the first ten, and while he managed to take a ride and finish, his 16th place meant its disappointing record of a single top-ten finish so far in 2008 continued.

However, in his blog on the website of Ducati, team leader of Livio Suppo suggested that Melandri will travel for the team in Brno, saying that he could not wait to see both the Italian team-mate Casey Stoner and return to action after the summer holidays.

"Laguna Seca is a positive weekend for Marco, though without the final result that he hoped to achieve," he said. "In the warming up it was very fast, as it had been in free practice. In the race however, was unfortunate to play a marker of entry into the first curve that caused him to run off the track.

"The show, however, that he was making a constant effort, just as it did in Sachsenring. It was consistent with the fall in the forefront during practices and warm and we are convinced that he too has understood how to get the best the Desmosedici.

"Now we have vacation time but we can not wait to see Casey and Marco back on track again in Brno."