Five Minutes with … Dusty Klatt
JUNE 26, 2008

Dusty Klatt sits in third overall in the MX1 class after four rounds of the Monster Energy Motocross Nationals.

photo: James Lissimore

By Danny Brault

No one really knew what to expect from Monster Energy Cernic’s Kawasaki’s Dusty Klatt when he returned to Canada this summer. And, to be honest, I don’t think we’ve seen the real Dusty Klatt thus far into the series. I could be wrong, but I’m not seeing that same aggression and determination the Campbell River Crusher showed us in 2006. However, Dusty is sitting third in the series, he’s won a moto, he's been on the podium five times, and he’s been pretty inconsistent in between. We checked in with Dusty on Sunday night in Regina to see what’s up.

RXC: Dusty Klatt, take us through your season so far. Are you happy? Not happy? So-so?
Dusty Klatt: I’m definitely not too happy with it; bad finishes are holding me back. We’ve had some good races, for sure, but that first turn crash at Ste-Julie hurt me. Getting 13th was a sour way to start, but even still, Colton [Facciotti] was out for the second race and left an opportunity to get to Tyler [Medaglia]. I got that win at Gopher, which was good. The last two races went pretty well; I got second in the first race in Morden and then my bike ended up stalling twice in the second moto.

At moments during the first moto in Morden, it looked like you ready to pass Colton.
Yeah, for sure. I kind of let off a bit and tried putting on a hard charge and caught right up to him and then we got into the lappers. By the time I got around them—crap, they almost cleaned him out—he had already pulled out a lead. After that, I just couldn’t catch up.

We’re seeing signs of brilliance. You were leading in Ste-Julie, you a won moto at Gopher Dunes, and you were second in Morden. But then there are these small setbacks, like a first corner crash in Ste-Julie and stalling the bike here and there.
Yeah, like today, I stalled it in the first moto and lost positions. Those stalls have killed me; it’s not like I mean to. It’s tough this year, Colton is riding really well and Tyler is too.

Were you surprised by the speed from those guys?
Yes and no. I expected it to be tight; Colton’s in better shape than I expected, but JSR has been working with him all winter long. Tyler, I don’t know too much about him, but the last time I was here [in Canada] he had some good motos in `06. I honestly didn’t think he would be quite as good as he is.

What do you think you need to do to be the Dusty Klatt you can be?
I’m trying to get the bike set-up; we’ve been trying to figure out suspension. We had a new setting this week and it did work better. Back home, my gym had closed and was supposed to re-open, so I did some road biking. Our weather back home has been really cold and wet. This year is probably the worst year I can remember; it’s been way colder than the rest of Canada. I tried to pace myself all weekend long because I’m not used to the heat. I’m going to have to buckle down here and get my act together.

I’m assuming you were pacing yourself in the second moto, and then at the end, it looked you were sprinting trying to get Homans.
In the first of the moto, I was right behind and then it looked like he was a little tired at the end. Don’t get me wrong, he was riding a good pace, for sure. I was pushing but I wasn’t riding over my head. By the time I caught up to him, it was a tough part of the track with deep ruts and it was one lined.

What are you going to do during the break? Ride your pedal bike? Go to Disneyland?
Train my butt off, really. That’s what I have to do; I don’t have much of a choice. I want to be on top of the box instead of all over the place.