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2012 Aussie Nationals - Round 3 Qualifying

by Ian Hylands
Feb 4, 2012 at 9:44

Here are the times from today's qualifying at the third round of the Aussie National Series at Stromlo Forest Park. This is only qualifying, but it's interesting to note that the top 3 Juniors all qualified faster than Sam Hill. It will be interesting to see what tomorrow's times are. Good also to see that Tracey Hannah is having no problem at all with the new Morewood.

Top 5 Men Qualifying
1 Troy Brosnan 2:19.60
2 Ben Cory 2:22.72
3 Todd Madsen 2:23.26
4 Timothy Eaton 2:24.52
5 Sam Hill 2:24.98

Top 5 Women Qualifying
1 Tracey Hannah 2:40.63
2 Madeline Taylor 3:02.12
3 Lisa Mathison 3:05.89
4 Michelle Crisp 3:08.25
5 Claire Whiteman 3:10.11

Top 5 Jr Men Qualifying
1 Dean Lucas 2:24.10
2 Joe Vejvoda 2:24.60
3 Thomas Crimmins 2:24.89
4 David McMillan 2:25.52
5 Connor Fearon 2:25.54

Complete results can be found here
Must Read This Week

59 Comments

  • + 59
flag fraserbritton Plus (Feb 4, 2012 at 10:25)
 Sam had a mechanical.
  • + 6
flag Bjammin (Feb 4, 2012 at 11:09)
 That sucks/explains it. Everybody prop this up so everyone sees it!
  • + 16
flag NorthEasternDH (Feb 4, 2012 at 12:45)
 BJ(in the) AM (for one) MIN thats what ur name stands for now
  • - 3
flag Bjammin (Feb 4, 2012 at 13:01)
 what?
  • + 3
flag mooseduck13 (Feb 4, 2012 at 14:00)
 hahahaha
  • + 10
flag Waldon83 (Feb 4, 2012 at 14:19)
 Blowjob in the morning for one minute. . . . surely that's not below the threshhold
  • + 0
flag Bjammin (Feb 5, 2012 at 8:27)
 ahh didn't get the AM bit at first. um good one?
  • + 0
flag betsie Plus (Feb 5, 2012 at 10:44)
 If Sam is bionic he had a mechanical in the final too, and the first too rides.... lol
[Reply]
  • + 26
flag kstealth (Feb 4, 2012 at 10:41)
 Dont forget Sam Hill is 3 times world champ and 2 times world cup champ... Wait for world cups he will take it to the next level.
  • - 4
flag jackjackthegloryboy (Feb 4, 2012 at 12:24) (Below Threshold) show comment
 doubt it, every 1s moved on
  • + 5
flag dcm6861 (Feb 4, 2012 at 12:47)
 I'm super excited for this year's worlds. If hill can get back on his A game.. with the pace everyone else has achieved... Troy, Hart, GWIN, Gee, Minnar, Brook... this could be one seriously wild season.
  • + 3
flag southwestdh (Feb 4, 2012 at 12:49)
 smith, brycland,needls,peaty and the list goes on
  • + 2
flag potthead (Feb 4, 2012 at 13:03)
 the guys who are up on sam right now are all top world cup guys..... hes only 4.something back chill out sams not going to push all out in the off season....
  • + 7
flag bryantaber (Feb 4, 2012 at 14:39)
 Everybody do SH a favor and keep talking shit....All you'll be doing is making that chip of his grow bigger and bigger and stoking those flames. You'll piss him off so much that nobody will catch him come WC time. Just remember though, that it is much easier to ride relaxxed when everyone's counted you out than to be the top man on the hill. AGwin and DHart will really be feeling the pressure this season. My gut is that if SH can stay healthy, he's gonna have a big year.
  • - 1
flag jclnv (Feb 4, 2012 at 15:30)
 The game has moved on. Hart and Brosnan are already doing things Hill can only dream about. Look at the lines those two take. It's another level.
  • + 4
flag hoolydooly (Feb 4, 2012 at 16:05)
 He did an interview for a local newspaper yesterday, hes only just getting warmed up and back into racing. and jclnv, on a good day, no one on that hill is faster than Sam Hill. He may not be consistent, but hes sure as hell the fastest.
  • + 5
flag bryantaber (Feb 4, 2012 at 18:19)
 My guess is JCLNV has more in common with JR racers than adults and has probably never seen SH footage of his first season DESTROYING the closest time by 12-15 seconds. Everybody was saying the same thing then. "No body can find lines like Sam Hill." You talk like finding a line nobody has ridden yet is a new concept, Jr." and if being older than 25 has anything to do with success how do explain Peaty's success last year at 35. Pleeeeeeease. Get your head out of your ass. Let's see you suffer 2 season ending injuries in 2 years crashes going as fast as these guys go , down the courses these guys go, and still place in the top 5 the very next competition. That takes some balls. We'll see how the youngsters bounce back after a serious body altering WC crash.

look up 2008 Sam Hill World Cup crash Italy and see how fast he used to be before his crashes in 2010.
  • + 2
flag nlitworld (Feb 4, 2012 at 21:17)
 Or look up Champery 2007 and watch that... He did ok at that race, considering he was 1.5 seconds back in 3rd with a huge crash in the pissing down rain. Not a bad weekend.

As far as serious WC crashes, nobody can bounce back like Matti Lehikoinen. To see him still riding is amazing enough, but competing at the level he is at after so many horrific crashes (back, 2 wrists, arm, gashed leg, etc.)? Inspiring to say the least.
  • + 1
flag bryantaber (Feb 5, 2012 at 6:28)
 Yeah I just looked up Matt L,( I wasnt aware of who he was) and have to admit he has an icredible amount of courage. Very Big Testicles. I got to watch a WC race in Windham last year in person, and I was in complete Awwww. Their tracks are "BIG" , gnarly, steep and the speeds they ride at are insanely fast and when they go OTB it gets pretty horrific. Hats off to Matt. I just wonder how many more he has left in him. When you need to get a Cat scan after a crash, and the Dr. says you are very lucky to not have any permanent brain damage, it's got to be tough getting back in the starter's gate.
  • + 1
flag betsie Plus (Feb 5, 2012 at 10:46)
 The game has moved on.... fact.... but I have a feeling the big mover, is gonna move it to yet another level this year.
The question is, can anyone hold on to Gwins dust before it settles?
[Reply]
  • + 20
flag stinky-deluxe-smith (Feb 4, 2012 at 11:08)
 tracey beat the next girl in class by 22seconds and your all still going on about sam hill :/
  • + 2
flag whattheheel (Feb 4, 2012 at 14:13)
 That's what I am thinking also! And on a new bike!
  • + 5
flag jclnv (Feb 4, 2012 at 15:31)
 No one will touch her this year. ACC is the only woman alive who can beat her.
[Reply]
  • + 10
flag dingus (Feb 4, 2012 at 9:46)
 Troy is playing for keeps.
  • + 16
flag jhowlett (Feb 4, 2012 at 9:54)
 pull your finger out hill
  • + 4
flag beeboo (Feb 4, 2012 at 9:58)
 I agree, step up your game Sam if you wanna play with these young guns!
  • + 5
flag fantaman (Feb 4, 2012 at 10:19)
 Troy & Tracy are smoking every one
  • + 7
flag maxeponken (Feb 4, 2012 at 10:20)
 Why should he "step up his game" right before the WC starts? He probably isn't giving it his all because he don't want an injuiry so close to the wc start.
  • + 0
flag Worm-Burner (Feb 4, 2012 at 11:44)
 There's Troy's 5 Second Gap again....
  • + 1
flag EuanBisset145 (Feb 4, 2012 at 11:57)
 I read a few comments above that hill had a mechanical, so maybe he has upped the pace.
[Reply]
  • + 7
flag conv3rt (Feb 4, 2012 at 10:10)
 over 20s gap in the women's line up? wow.
  • + 3
flag Six-or-Shore (Feb 4, 2012 at 11:29)
 And less than 1.5s in the juniors
[Reply]
  • + 2
flag iamamodel (Feb 4, 2012 at 12:44)
 Go Ben Cory! He is one of the smoothest riders you'll ever see.

He's the forgotten Junior World Champion. At the first round when Brosnan, Hill, Atkinson, Cory and Graves were standing on the podium, the announcer said "There's three world champions up on the podium." Sam turns to Ben and says 'Four'.
  • + 1
flag DarcyDay (Feb 4, 2012 at 13:05)
 Ben is the an luckiest world champ/down hill rider in the world.
I couldn't believe commencal drop him on the saturday night at Thredbo right before finals the next day.
  • + 1
flag hoolydooly (Feb 4, 2012 at 16:07)
 Did he keep the bike? I sure as hell would have.
  • + 1
flag DarcyDay (Feb 4, 2012 at 17:42)
 well he got to race on it the next day and did well enough to get on the australian team for worlds in val di sole but he didn't get a knew sponsor so he didn't have a bike/not enough support to get there so he didn't race. But he is on giant and troy lee so i guess its ok.
[Reply]
  • + 1
flag danmaran (Feb 5, 2012 at 3:30)
 Hey man i hope he doesn't lose it too... I used to watch him race in Victoria at a place called Eildon, when he was a junior and was riding with Rennie...amazing. And I was gutted not to see him ride @ the worlds in Fort Bill in 2010, when he had his stack, i was there waiting mid section on the hill with my massive lens hoping to get a few good snaps of hill, but i missed out due to his stack.
Sad but true...
[Reply]
  • + 1
flag danmaran (Feb 4, 2012 at 13:20)
 Love sam to tears , He's my fav rider of all time but he ain't cuttin the mustard anymore, he has lost the lime light now, and worlds are another story, put the world cup young chickens in the mix ,and he will not finish in top 5.
  • + 1
flag EuanBisset145 (Feb 4, 2012 at 14:02)
 4 point whatever seconds doesn't mean he has lost it, he had a mechanical of some kind and was still only 4 -5 seconds off the winning time. Also the last couple of years he has been plagued with injuries.
  • + 3
flag fraserbritton Plus (Feb 4, 2012 at 18:32)
 Don't count him out yet. If he hits the World Cups with the fire back and healed up, everyone is in trouble.
  • + 1
flag betsie Plus (Feb 5, 2012 at 10:55)
 I would expect that Troy is still some pace off the top when it comes to WC's but the gap is closing (quickly).
  • + 1
flag fraserbritton Plus (Feb 5, 2012 at 18:07)
 Troy has already been on an elite world cup podium, as a junior. I wouldn't say he was off the pace at all, considering he beat plenty of top 10 world cup veterans.
  • + 0
flag betsie Plus (Feb 7, 2012 at 10:21)
 I never said he was "off the pace", I said he "is still some pace off the top". The top being No.1.
2s per minute or more.
[Reply]
  • + 2
flag m47h13u (Feb 4, 2012 at 11:06)
 Isn't Stromlo that flat ass place they held Worlds in 2008, because Sam finishing in the top 5 on that track is pretty good.
  • + 1
flag dingus (Feb 4, 2012 at 11:12)
 I don't think Sam would see it that way, especially when only 1 of the guys who went faster than him is at top 20 World Cup rider.

But it is only qualifying and he did have a mechanical of some sort.
  • + 1
flag allan-taylor64 (Feb 4, 2012 at 21:11)
 Stromlo is the hilliest place round canberra xD
[Reply]
  • + 2
flag japage (Feb 4, 2012 at 10:12)
 I think Sam had a mechanical.
[Reply]
  • + 1
flag nshoregal (Feb 4, 2012 at 19:45)
 Welcome back, Tracey - you didn't miss a beat!
[Reply]
  • + 1
flag DarcyDay (Feb 4, 2012 at 12:59)
 Good to see Ben cory up there.
[Reply]
  • + 1
flag Goernsi87 (Feb 4, 2012 at 11:00)
 Sam come back to your old form.
[Reply]
  • + 1
flag peschman (Feb 4, 2012 at 21:56)
 troy needs to get on the roids
[Reply]
  • + 1
flag jclnv (Feb 4, 2012 at 15:34)
 Anyone know if Ivan Drago is riding?
[Reply]
  • + 1
flag MTB-RnD (Feb 4, 2012 at 11:11)
 Go Tracey!
[Reply]
  • + 0
flag octalex1 (Feb 4, 2012 at 10:20)
 DAAMMM troy is dominating
[Reply]
  • - 1
flag danmaran (Feb 4, 2012 at 13:21)
 And Troy will be the new sam hill...
[Reply]
  • + 0
flag huntaaahhh (Feb 4, 2012 at 16:42)
 hope sam isnt losing it
[Reply]
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