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HAYDEN MELLROSS
250 SX / 7TH
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / WILSON
>> Hayden Mellross had a major up and down start to his 2017 250 West Coast campaign. The rider hailing from down under in Australia, had two finishes in ninth and two finishes outside of the top twenty. His consistency was something that was hindering him early in the season and a hand injury also did its damage. It forced him out of a few rounds in the middle of the first big portion of the series and that certainly did not help with his quest for consistency either. Mellross has shown us he has the speed in the heat races and qualifying sessions but hasn’t put together a complete main event. He was hoping the long break leading up to Seattle helped him make the proper adjustments.
Mellross looked good on the soft and rutted course inside CenturyLink Field. He qualified strong in tenth place and looked ready to contend during the night show. The Aussie got a nice start in his heat race coming out of lap one in fourth. He made quick work of Josh Hansen to take over third place on the following lap. He then started clicking off some good times getting used to the track when Oldenburg came knocking on his door. He could not hold him off and the Troy Lee KTM made its way around. Mellross would not let anyone else by and hold on for fourth.
The start in the main event did not go as well as it did in the heat but it was not that much worse. Mellross began his journey in ninth place but quickly jumped up two spots to seventh on the second lap. Then from there on out he conquered the brutal, rough, deep course and kept his machine steady all the way to the checkered flag
to get that seventh-place finish. A big-time career best for the young gun and a big confidence booster as well.
50 GRITMOTO • APRIL 9, 2017