The Czech Grand Prix will mark the end of the summer break, which came on the heels of an intense series of races that brought us to the halfway point in the season. Jorge Lorenzo is of course leading the championship, as he has yet to finish worse than second place, but he has an open account with Brno after he crashed out of the race on lap five last year.  He spent his holiday in Punta Cana (Santo Domingo), constantly keeping his fans updated by way of facebook and twitter, where he even found time to plan another of his famous flags.

The other Spaniard, Dani Pedrosa (2nd in points), has also returned from a vacation where he no doubt let the refreshing sea water rinse off all the gravel from the Laguna Seca runoff area.  He has won twice at Brno (in 2003 on a 125, and in 2005 of a 250), and he finished second in last year's race.  If he want to maintain any hopes of a championship, he will have to make a big move this weekend.

A more subdued holiday for Andrea Dovizioso: fifteen days at the seaside not far from his home town of Forli, spent with his family and his girl Sara.  Andrea's goal is to maintain third place in the standings, and not lose contact with his teammate, whom he trails by 23 points.

Australian Casey Stoner, fresh off the announcement of his deal with HRC for next year, stayed in California after the US GP, bouncing around between national parks and pacific coast beaches, of course in the company of his wife Adriana.  After a difficult start to his season, Stoner is separated from Valentino Rossi by just 13 points, and will have plenty of pressure on him not to be overtaken by the rider likely to taken his place at Ducati next year.

Valentino Rossi told us that he would be spending his summer break at home, about which he joked, "Tavullia is the place where everyone wants to spend their vacation, and it if full of great clubs... a little like Palma di Maiorca!” The last bit being obvious reference to the championship leader.

It might not have been in an exotic locale, but Valentino likely still enjoyed himself, spending time with his girlfriend Marwa Klebi and some other friends on his impressive yacht, the Titilla II (a Pershing 56 with 1300hp and worth approximately  2 million Euro).  It is apparently docked in Baia di Vallugola, a short distance south of Gabicce.  The Italian will be much closer to full fitness than he was the last time we saw him race, ready to take on Brno (or “Brunò”, as some of the riders from his region of Italy like to pronounce it).  Rossi won the 2009 race going away, beating the second place rider by 11 seconds on one of his favorite tracks.

The MotoGP will stay on at Brno for the now traditional Monday test, the day where Rossi is expected to officially announce his move to Ducati.