From correspondents in Americas, 06:31 PM IST

The famous Indianapolis Speedway will host a round of the MotoGP world championship in 2008.

Motorcycle racing will return to the famous 'Brickyard' for the first time in nearly a century, reports BBC.

The US will host two rounds of the 2008 championship, with the Sep 14 Indianapolis race following the US GP at Laguna Seca in California.

The MotoGP circuit will be a new 16-turn 4.1 km road course, with riders racing in an anti-clockwise direction.

Indianapolis has hosted the US Formula One Grand Prix since 2000, but last week Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone confirmed that there would not be a 2008 race at the track.

MotoGP world champion Nicky Hayden, who is from Kentucky, said: 'I'm really excited about this race. Coming to such an historic track like Indianapolis Motor Speedway will be really special to me. It's like my home race.'

His fellow American rider Colin Edwards added: 'MotoGP is really starting to take off over there (in the US), and now with two races we'll get a lot more exposure.

'I'm definitely looking forward to it. It's the Brickyard, and it's got racing history for as far back as you can remember. It has so many famous car races there that it's definitely time we got two wheels on the track.'

(Staff Writer, © IANS)