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

Melandri's contract for 2009 with the team was cancelled by mutual consent earlier this month after a disappointing season to date for the Italian, with rumours then surfacing the US Grand Prix at Laguna Seca could be his final ride onboard the factory Desmosedici.

That race didn't go to plan for Melandri when he fell while well placed inside the top ten, and while he managed to remount and take the finish, his 16th place meant his disappointing record of just one top-ten finish thus far in 2008 continued.

However, in his blog on the Ducati website, team chief Livio Suppo suggested that Melandri will continue to ride for the team at Brno, stating that he couldn't wait to see both the Italian and team-mate Casey Stoner return to action after the summer break.

"Laguna Seca was a positive weekend for Marco, albeit without the final result that he hoped to achieve," he said. "In the warm-up he was very fast, as he had been in the free practice. In the race however he was unfortunate to touch a marker on entry into the first curve which caused him to run off track.

"He showed however that he was making a constant effort, just as he did at Sachsenring. He was consistently up with the front-runners during the practices and warm-up and we're convinced that he too has understood how to get the best out of the Desmosedici.

"Now we have some holiday time but we can't wait to see Casey and Marco back on track again in Brno."