Brosnan - Hill rivalry continues to excite fans at nationals

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Another 1-2 finish for Team Monster Energy-Specialized riders Troy Brosnan and Sam Hill at the Australian National Championships in South Australia over the weekend, further amped up their already intense rivalry, with Brosnan's blinding run of  1:59.05 giving him the edge on this occasion.

Brosnan and Hill have been going 1-2 for the whole Australian National Mountain Bike Series season and expectations were extremely high for the duo, as they took on the national titles.

The crowd were treated to a spectacle from the opening seeding runs, with Brosnan, Hill and Jarod Graves all separated by less than 3 seconds in their consecutive runs.

Both riders were confident however they could improve ahead of the finals on Sunday. Despite Hill doing a near perfect run leaving nothing on the mountain with a 2.01.12, Brosnan was just a little bit better on the day, a growing theme in the two's competition meetings.

"Troy is really on top of his game at the moment and I cant wait to race him on some World Cup tracks," said Hill after the championships. Brosnan meanwhile admitted that he was nervous hearing Hill's time just before his final run and was nearly thrown when he heard it over the loud speaker.

"I was real nervous in the gate and tried really hard not to hear Sam’s time, but just heard it before I left. Luckily I kept it together and I had a great run. It all went to plan really, the pressure didn’t get to me and I didn’t make any mistakes. I couldn’t have asked for anything more."

Team manager Sean Heimdal insisted that rivalry aside, it was amazing to see just how consistent the two have been throughout the year.

"I'm speechless. I'm now just excited to see what they'll be able to do when the World Cup season gets under way."