Australia’s Hayden Mellross will return to the West Coast 250 SX Monster Energy Supercross Championship this weekend in Arlington following a two-round lay-off due to injury.

After completing just two main events this season and capturing a career-best main event finish of ninth-place at San Diego, the 21-year-old was forced to the sidelines due to a hand injury sustained in Phoenix.

“I don’t think I’m at 100 percent, but I’m very close to it,” Mellross told MotoOnline.com.au today. “It feels good and I’ve had a pretty solid week on the bike this week, my speed is a little off, but my fitness is there. I’m just looking forward to going racing this weekend and building a bit of speed, something I can build off for the mid-season break that we have.

“I was trying to do everything I could to be back. I probably could have come back a little earlier, but there was no point in rushing this injury and being out for a lot longer, so we thought we’d take our time and make sure that when we do come back, we won’t have any more setbacks.”

With just three days back on-board his 51FIFTY Energy Drink Yamaha YZ250F leading into the event, Mellross’ race day plan is heavily-focused on carrying momentum into the seven-week break as the East Coast 250SX series takes over.

“It was pretty important to make it to Dallas to build a little bit of momentum going into the break,” he explained. “If we can race this weekend and put a solid 15 minutes under our belt and come out with a great result, then for the next seven weeks we have a gauge to look back on and try to improve.”

Mellross is expected to return to action alongside 51FIFTY Energy Drink Yamaha fill-in rider, Noah McConahy, as team regular Tyler Bowers remains out due to a broken femur.