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Stoner and Rossi collide in Jerez

As well as being extremely talented, MotoGP racers are very tough and several riders have been pushing through the pain barrier recently despite no racing.

, the source of much discomfort in the opening two rounds, and , an occupational hazard of top-level bike racing.

Randy de Puniet has taken advantage of the break to have a screw removed from his knee and Loris Capirossi has been undergoing physiotherapy on a shoulder injury.

Alvaro Bautista, meanwhile, says he has racked up more than 4,500km on trips from his home in Talavera de la Reina to Madrid for sessions in a as he targets a return to action at Estoril just six weeks after breaking his femur in Qatar.

In the absence of any actual MotoGP action last weekend, the virtual racing world went tweet-tastic with the second running of a cult phenomenon: . Run by a with genuine paddock connections (and no it's not me!) the first TwitGP was held last year when coincidentally the .

It quickly generated almost 5,000 followers with a madcap storyline of past and present grand prix legends fighting it out on a virtual track, designed by Tiff Needell and called Twitegi.

The first race was won by Kevin Schwantz by a mouse wheel after swapping Microsoft Paint with Rossi, Nicky Hayden and Lorenzo, who nearly wi-fisided. You get the idea. After the race, the real Lorenzo gamely tweeted: "No way to overtake Mr Brakingman Schwantz. Anyway I was lucky to finish 2nd because I finished the battery just as I was crossing the line."

Last Sunday night over 10,000 followers were invited to buy a virtual ticket for TwitGP2 by donating money to .

The race was won by Colin Edwards who, unlike the computer savvy Lorenzo, was none the wiser to his success, updating his Facebook status on Tuesday with: "Don't get me wrong, I'll occasionally take credit for sh*t I didn't do.....but what is twitgp2 u all are congratulating me for? No clue.....for real. LOL."

My own participation in TwitGP2 as "twit-lane reporter" was preceded by an all-too-real road race in Ireland the week before, the Connemara International Half Marathon, where the only lolling I was doing was near the back of the field.

Running alongside my brother and other past and present members of the Brothers Pearse Gaelic Football Club in Huddersfield we managed to raise a few quid for Dogs for the Disabled and the Joseph Salmon Trust.

As if that wasn't challenging enough I had the daft idea to ride all the way there on a motorbike. I took a Suzuki GSX1250FA, a sports tourer which was perfect for the task, although on the way back I was forced to rely on more charity from a friend in Dublin after dropping my wallet somewhere on the N4 near Mullingar.

Thankfully my mate was able to lend me a few euros so I could fill up near the port and then set off from Holyhead in the blind hope that a full tank would get me home.

Thankfully, it did.

It was a great weekend for the Brits in the World Superbike Championship last week at Assen, with Johnny Rea taking a win and a third place and Chaz Davies gaining his first ever victory in the World Supersport series.

I know Chaz well from his 250cc days and I'm delighted to see him finally with the opportunity to fulfil his potential on a competitive package. Hopefully we'll see him and Johnny, who made his TwitGP debut just hours after standing on top of the podium in Holland, in MotoGP in the near future.

With World Superbikes, some brilliant F1 action and a feast of football to enjoy during our unforeseen hiatus there has been little chance to get bored but I have to say that it has all whetted my appetite to see the MotoGP boys strutting their stuff again as soon as possible.

The fireworks may have been put on hold but Estoril will be no damp squib and, while certain riders may have a notoriously short fuse, you can guarantee that it will still be burning when we arrive in Portugal late next week.