Source: Supplied.

A hand injury sustained in a first turn incident at Anaheim 2 will sideline 51Fifty Energy Drink Yamaha’s Hayden Mellross this weekend in Phoenix.

Mellross has endured a luckless start to the 2017 Monster Energy AMA Supercross series, struck by a mechanical at Anaheim 1 and bowing out of A2.

In between he soldiered to a career-best ninth-place result in San Diego, but will skip at least one round due to the hand injury that halted his progress last weekend.

“I have made the hard decision to sit out this weekend’s race at Arizona,” Mellross stated. “Unfortunately I suffered a hand injury last weekend at Anaheim in the first turn crash. I am going to take it week by week and hopefully I can be back to 100 percent soon! Thanks to all my sponsors and fans for supporting me.”

Mellross was initially confident he would be able to continue racing with his injury, however has since made the decision to allow it time to heal during the West Coast 250SX mid-season. Following this weekend, two western regional rounds remain prior to the series heading east from Minneapolis. It will return west mid-April for Seattle.