American MotoGP rider and 2006 world champion Nicky Hayden was the first to check out the newly paved Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course Friday morning in preparation for the 2011 Red Bull Indianapolis GP on 26-28 August.

A three-time Moto GP race winner, Hayden won the 2006 MotoGP World Championship and has a career that includes six runner-up finishes, five pole positions and six fastest laps.

Hayden was born and lives in Owensboro, Ky., and considers the Indianapolis Motor Speedway his home track. In the three previous Red Bull Indianapolis GPs, Hayden finished as the runner-up in 2008, third in 2009 and sixth in 2010.

Hayden took a Ducati 1198 for a ride earlier this morning over the recently refurbished IMS road course.

“The new surface is just what I expected, it’s pretty much perfect,” Hayden said. “There are a couple corners that the riders requested to be redone and IMS went above and beyond, and actually the whole infield from Turn 5 to the finish is repaved.

“I’m looking forward to getting back here on the race bike and laying some rubber down and cleaning up the racing line and trying it out.”

Beginning on 9 June, crews repaved 1.5 miles of the circuit from Turn Five through Turn 16. The existing asphalt was ground and then repaved with fresh asphalt to create a surface consistent with the other sections of the course.

The FIM, the worldwide sanctioning body of motorcycling, inspected and approved the repaved section of the circuit on 7 July.