Image: Foremost Media.

The extended break in the 2021 Penrite ProMX Championship due to Gillman’s postponement has been ‘detrimental’ to Hayden Mellross’ program, the Victorian-based rider missing out on two key races that he intended to use in his rebuild from shoulder surgery.

Gillman’s third round, which was scheduled to take place a month ago, was postponed following an outbreak of Covid-19 in Melbourne, which subsequently saw the South Australian border slammed shut to travellers from Victoria.

The outbreak also meant Mellross was forced to withdraw from the Manjimup 15,000, where Western Australia also imposed travel restrictions on Victorians, denying him the chance of another important outing that he hoped would play a role in building momentum and strength in his 2021 campaign.

The CDR Yamaha Monster Energy rider underwent a knee reconstruction in 2019 before deciding to have his shoulder operated in a 2020 season that saw no racing take place, resulting in limited competitive outings for the 25-year-old since Coolum’s MX Nationals finale in August 2019.

“The way I structure my training is to have some heavier weeks, then during the week prior to a race I lighten the load, ease back on both my on-bike and off-bike training, and incorporate some fast starts and shorter interval training,” Mellross explained to MotoOnline.com.au.

“After Canberra I was sticking to my program and going really hard at it, but then Gillman was postponed fairly late in the week. I had to hit the reset button and go back to heavy training, which was a little difficult, but I guess that’s the new normal these days.

“I’d also planned to race Manjimup, but the following day WA closed their borders to Melbourne, so I lost that opportunity as well. It’s not massive, but those were two races on the calendar that I was going to use to keep building.

“Coming back from a knee reconstruction in 2019 and not racing and getting elective shoulder surgery in 2020, I’d intended to use those races to improve and get stronger. It was a bit detrimental to the program, but we’ll keep building from here on out.”

Mellross is currently ranked third in the championship standings as ProMX resumes this weekend at Maitland in New South Wales.