Tuesday Toolbox: Kilby and Buckhannon

Can-Am's Bryan Buckhannon and Scott Kilby are in a battle to the end in the 4X4 Open class. When Bryan was hurt in Somerset, he gave up a six win streak to Scott. But now, the two are both back in action. Whoever wins this weekend's race will be Open 4x4 Champion. We talked to Bryan and Scott to find to what it's like to be teammates and competitors and who they think is going to come out on top at the Ironman.

Bryan Buckhannon
You broke your leg at Somerset, after winning every round prior. Did you think your season was over at that point? At that point, yes I did. I thought that was pretty much it when I wrecked. It was instant pain, but I wasn't even thinking about the pain, I was just thinking the season was over. I didn't know how bad it was at the time so I was really worried my career was over.

How long were you out after your accident? I was actually in a cast for 18 weeks and of right now I'm still struggling with it a little bit. It's easier to ride than walk, actually. I pretty much couldn't even leave my house the first two weeks because I have steps in my house and with a full leg cast I couldn't get around. I tried to work on arm exercises though, and I watched a lot of the GNCC replays on Racer TV. That's what kept me into it, really.

Unadilla, Yadkinville and St. Clairsville were good races for you when you came back. Did you think you were going to be come back that far after your injury? The first race back was Unadilla and I did good. I wrecked right after the start and then got stuck on a hill which kind of set the pace for that race. Every time I got back up front I made some mental errors. We had a heck of the battle at that race.  It was probably the best battle I've ever had between me, Scott and Darrell Rath.  I finished second in all of those races.

You and Scott Kilby have been right with each other this season.  Since you're both Can-Am teammates, does that make competition a little more complicated? Especially since he won every race you were out for. Not really. You know, as long as Can-Am is winning, that's excellent. If I wasn't winning on a Can-Am I'd want Scott to win them. I was glad he was winning actually. I support Can-Am 100 percent. If we don't sell machines, we won't have a race team much longer! (laughs)  [As they say in racing] What wins on Sunday, sells on Monday!

Ironman is the deciding factor for the championship, how have you done there in the past? Last year I led from start to finish so it was a really good race for me. I'm looking forward to this race. I'm training harder than I ever have been.

You said you were struggling still when it comes to your leg, what kind of training are you doing now? Unfortunately, I can't run and I used to run a lot of cross country races and enduro races on my feet. I still haven't been able to do that. I ride my bike a little more. It's more of a stationary exercise. The biggest way I've been training is just out riding in 30-40 degree weather with it raining. I'm just doing it the old fashioned way, ride, ride ride.  The team didn't want me to ride anymore after Sunday, so I could rest. But I still have plenty of stuff to get ready. This is my day to organize my gear.

You haven't won a race since your injury, but you've been on the podium, do you think you can pull out another win to take the championship? Yes, I do.

Why's that? I've been able to potentially win the last three races.  Just everything didn't fall into place. I thought I was the fastest rider there and hopefully this weekend I will make fewer mistakes. I just hope as a team we can take home the victory. It's a lot of hard work though.

Do you and Scott get along off the track? Yes we do.

Scott Kilby

How long have you been racing, Scott? I've been racing since 1999. So, however many years that's been. You can do the math. (laughs)

And how many championships have you won? I've got seven championships. That's pretty good odds.

I would say so! But last year, Buckhannon beat you for the title, did you think you'd get back into it after that? Oh yeah, I'm a lifer.

Was that your motivation, to come back and beat Buckhannon? Yeah, I wanted to come back and try to get the championship. I had a lot of other reasons too.

What do you think your odds are of winning this year? I think I would bet on me. If I was going to be betting money, I'd bet on me. (laughs)

Can you bet on races? Is that even allowed? (laughs) I don't know but it's funny though!

How do you think the season would have gone for you if Buckhannon had been healthy the entire 13 rounds? I think he would have been probably been further out in front and this wouldn't be happening. I didn't get my equipment together until he came back and now I have equal equipment to Bryan now that I have the power steering. I kind of had an advantage with him being gone though.

So the power steering has worked well for you then? It fits me very well now. In '05 at Ironman I had a really bad crash and now I have two titanium collarbones and they hurt pretty badly when I'm not using power steering. It really gives me back the advantage to where I can hold on when I'm racing.

Basically, whoever wins Ironman wins the championship. How do you feel about that track? It's probably my favorite track. It's got a lot of open areas where I can go fast. I like going fast and showing the power of the machine I've got. It's really a fun track.

What are you going to do if you take back the championship? I'm going to be pumped. I'll probably go in front of the Warnert trailer and do donuts in the grass. That's my plan if I should win.

You know, Bryan said if he wasn't winning he would want you to win because it would be a win for Can-Am. Can you tell me how you feel about that? I feel the same way. I'm glad that Can-Am is winning. We have team Polaris out there really gunning for us. As long as Can-Am wins I'm glad. If Bryan wins, that's great. He's a great rider, he works hard and he wants it bad too. I want to win bad too.

He says you get along off the track. Yeah we do. I think we'll do some 10 hour events together and be teammates. I think we'd be a good strong team against Swift, Beasley and Cecco. They run a 10 hour team and I think Bryan and I will do it this year. With Bryan on board, I think we can work on them!