Image: Simon Cudby.

51FIFTY Energy Drink Yamaha has revealed Australian Hayden Mellross will return to the squad in 2017 to contest the Monster Energy AMA Supercross West Coast 250SX Championship alongside newly-signed rider Tyler Bowers.

The 21-year-old raced for the Yamaha-backed outfit in this year’s AMA Supercross West Coast 250SX series, where he recorded several impressive results to credit himself 16th in the championship standings.

Mellross, who will continue to race aboard a YZ250F, came agonisingly close to wrapping up the Australian SX2 championship last month, however a mechanical malfunction in the dying stages of the main event at Sydney’s finale denied him the opportunity.

MotoOnline.com.au broke the news that Mellross will be returning home to Australia halfway through 2017 to contest rounds four and five of the Motul MX Nationals series, while he’ll also compete in the Australian Supercross Championship with DPH Motorsport.

Bowers, a four-time AMA Arenacross champion and former 250SX main event victor, will move from Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki – a team he has spent the last two seasons with – as he endeavours to claim his first title in the discipline.

The team will make its first racing appearance of 2017 at the opening round of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship on 7 January in Anaheim, USA.