Team Australia is in Canada and they are throwing down. Aussie teammates Sam Willoughby and Caroline Buchanan took the top spots in Friday's Super Finals for the time trial portion of the race weekend. It was a slow start to a shorter day than usual with some of the younger riders taking a shot at their first Supercross event. The UCI calendar reset on Aug. 1, so now, riders born in late 1995 are eligible to ride the Elite events.
For the men, British Columbia local Tory Nyhaug did his best to fend off the rest of the pack, but Sam Willoughby and Connor Fields would not back down. Olympian Tory Nyhaug spent his past few months training here in Abbotsford, British Columbia, for the London Games, but Willoughby isn't a world champ for nothing. Willoughby beat out the timed record at the Abbottsford Supercross track with a time of 30.373 seconds, adding to his list of recent accomplishments. With that said, Fields is still leading the overall standings by 44 points, well within reach of Willoughby, but also a safe distance away should it come down to the wire.
When the women hit the course, it was Caroline Buchanan who took home yet another time trial win, making it six in a row for her (including the BMX Worlds and the Olympics.) American Felicia Stancil did her best to catch Buchanan, but in the end, she couldn't quite hold her down. Points leader Magalie Pottier finished in 16th place (out of 16) after suffering a broken hand in Thursday's practice session. Pottier will be rolling the track during the races in hopes of maintaining an overall spot in the top three for the overall 2012 Supercross standings.
Check back Saturday for the results of the race as well as the final standings of the 2012 UCI Supercross Series.
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