Geico Honda rising star RJ Hampshire has been named as the replacement of fellow American Josh Grant ahead of next weekend’s 2017 Monster Energy AUS-X Open Sydney.

Hampshire, who recently dominated the US round of the MX2 World Championship, will line up in the premier SX1 division at Qudos Bank Arena.

“I can’t wait to race in Australia! I’ve been putting in a lot of hours on the 450 lately and am feeling really good on the bike,” Hampshire said. “I’ll give it everything I have to compete for the win!”

The announcement confirms that Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Grant has withdrawn from the event after he was announced in June, instead focused on his 2018 pre-season testing schedule.

“We were extremely disappointed that Kawasaki had decided to withdraw Josh from this year’s AUS-X Open,” AUS-X Open director Adam Bailey stated. “Josh was really excited to come out, as were we to have him, but regardless we’re really excited to have an up and coming talent like RJ Hampshire out to make his Australian debut.

“He has an incredible style and flair that we’re sure fans are going to love watching. There’s no doubt that this year’s AUS-X Open has an incredible rider line-up that we’re really proud of.

“Of course we were as disappointed as anyone to hear that Chad wasn’t going to be ready to race in front of his home town fans this year. We appreciate that he did everything humanly possible to get the treatment he needed to do so and like the true champion he is, he’s committed to come home to see his fans and sign as many autographs as possible.”

The announcement that Grant won’t be travelling to Australia comes following this week’s confirmation that home hero Chad Reed has been sidelined after undergoing ankle surgery. He will be attending the event still however, scheduled for rider signings and appearances throughout the 11-12 November event.