Hampshire's Yamaha UK Dixon racing team will have all three riders sidelined for the next two rounds of the World Motocross Championship.

Injury has ruled Billy Mackenzie, Jason Higgs and Mark Jones out of the Italian and Bulgarian Grands Prix.

British 125cc championship runner-up Mackenzie, a young Scot living in Titchfield, has just undergone surgery on an ankle injury sustained three weeks ago.

Higgs and Jones were both injured after taking tumbles in last week's British Championship round at Culham. After twice finishing eighth, Higgs was taken to hospital with a suspected broken leg after a high-speed tumble in the Maxxis Cup race.

The good news was that Higgs had suffered nothing worse than heavy bruising and ligament damage in his lower leg. Jones caught his foot under the foot rest in practice and twisted his ankle.

Yamaha team manager Steve Dixon from Eastleigh confirmed: "All three riders have been withdrawn now so as to give other riders the chance to compete in the GPs.

"Injuries are an unfortunate side of our industry. The sport is very fast and physically demanding and teams have to accept that these things happen from time to time. It's just very unfortunate when it happens to all your riders at once."

The Yamaha UK team which is based at Swanmore in the Meon Valley, is one of the oldest GP teams currently running and they hope to be back for the next British Championship round which is being staged in the Isle of Wight.

Dixon said: We have several weeks to prepare for the Austrian GP then the British round on the Island. Hopefully Jones and Higgs will make a full recovery and be back in action long before then but it will take a little longer for Mackenzie. He has only just had surgery. Now all we can hope is that he is a quick healer."

To rub salt into the wound, Mackenzie's big 125cc title rival, Stephen Sword, won both races at Culham - and it was Sword who unwittingly got involved in the accident which brought down Higgs.