The late 2006 MotoGP world champion Nicky Hayden, who tragically died in 2017, will have his famous #69 race number officially retired during the Americas Grand Prix weekend in April.
Hayden died from injuries sustained in a road traffic accident in May of 2017 while out training on his push bike in Italy.
Since then, numerous tributes to America's last grand prix world champion have been paid, including a statue of Hayden being erected last year in his home town of Owensboro, Kentucky.
Hayden's father Earl said of the announcement: "What a great honour it will be for Nicky's #69 to be retired at Austin.
“It is very fitting that it will be done at the US race as these races meant so much to Nicky and he looked forward to them so much every year.
“For myself in particular this will be very special event because the #69 was my number when I raced and I was very proud to see Nicky run the #69 on his bikes for his entire career.
“On behalf of my entire family I would like to say a special thanks to [MotoGP owners] Dorna for honouring Nicky in this special way along with the many other gestures they have done to support us through the difficult times.”
Hayden came to MotoGP in 2003 with the works Honda team off the back of a title-winning campaign in the AMA Superbike championship the year before.
He took his debut win in 2005 in front of his home crowd at Laguna Seca, before mounting an ultimately successful charge for the premier class crown in 2006, where he prevailed in an epic and dramatic year-long battle with Yamaha's Valentino Rossi.
The 'Kentucky Kid', as he came to be known, switched to Ducati in 2010, but struggled aboard the difficult Desmosedici in his four seasons with the Italian marque, before moving to the Aspar team in 2014 on the woeful CRT Honda.
He retired from MotoGP at the end of 2015, and was made an official MotoGP legend before departing for World Superbikes in 2016 with the Ten Kate Honda team.
Hayden took to the top step of the podium during the Sepang round to claim his first world championship race win since 2006, while making two appearances in MotoGP for the works and Marc VDS Honda squads as an injury substitute.
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