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HAYDEN MELLROSS
250 SX / A-1
IMAGE / MPG WORDS / ARMSTRONG DESIGN / WILSON
>> The Australian is back to chase his dream of racing the Monster Energy AMA Supercross championship in 2017 and
he is starting to become a very familiar face for the fans and
for main event riders. Mellross seems to have a good program together this year with the 5150 energy drink Yamaha team
and has a teammate who he can learn lots from (former winner and multiple time arenacross champion Tyler Bowers). When the gate was set to drop for the first race of the year all of the fans where making their predictions for the holeshot. I am sure they didn’t expect to see Hayden up there running with the big dogs right away. The Yamaha rider was placed healthy inside
of a qualifying position for the main in 3rd place before quickly undergoing some heavy fire from title favourites Justin Hill and Aaron Plessinger. Although Hayden is an underdog compared to these two he was able to fend them off for over a lap and hung on tight for 5th place finish. The #64 of Mellross put the hammer down once again on the start of the main event finding himself in 8th place. It didn’t take long for the Aussie to navigate himself through the field, quickly finding himself in a podium position. While fending off Kyle Chisholm and Aaron Plessinger Mellross’ bike realized it was going to fast and decided to give up. Even though Mellross was awarded 21st with a DNF you have to think he was amped to be inside of the top 3 in a main event and will come back with vengeance for the rest of the season.
140 GRITMOTO • JANUARY 9, 2017