Image: Supplied.

A shoulder injury has ruled Colt Nichols out of this weekend’s opening round of the 2024 Monster Energy Supercross Championship, delaying his debut with the Liqui Moly Factory Beta team.

At 29, Nichols has been signed to lead the official Beta program in the US alongside Benny Bloss, however, it’s unclear when he will be fit to line up at this point.

“I’m very disheartened to be missing the season-opener at Anaheim 1 this weekend and the debut on my new Beta 450 RX,” Nichols said. “I’m doing everything I can to heal up so I can get back on the gate – hopefully see you guys soon.”

In place of Nichols with Bloss will instead be John Short, who has previously finished inside the top 10 of multiple 250SX East main events, and achieved a career-high of P10 in the 2018 championship standings.