Catching Up with...Dusty Klatt

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Photos by Dan Stenning

This past weekend in Gopher Dunes, Team Toyota/Red Bull/Blackfoot Yamaha’s Dusty Klatt got the overall win with his 3-2 moto scores. The Campbell River BC native also secured his first overall win in Canada since his magical 2006 season as well as made up a couple points on his teammate Colton Facciotti in the chase for the MX1 number one plate.
By all accounts Dusty was fast and ran a consistent race both motos, he was getting caught by Kornel Nemeth in the second and reached down to pull away from the Hungarian. Klatt knows the odds are steep to catch Colton but like he says in this interview, anything can happen.

DMX: Dusty, congrats on the win and can you take us through your two motos?

Dusty Klatt: The day went half-decent for me, I got two good starts. I got great jumps both times but got yarded out of the gate. Either way, first moto I passed four guys and was in third, the track was gnarly rough and I had a few close calls. Keast was in front of me and was sideways all over the place, there were tons of guys going down all over the place- it was carnage.  
 There were three laps there that pretty out of control for me and I could see (Kornel) Nemeth catching up. I decided to back it down and settled for third. The second moto I got a half-decent start and worked my way into second on the second lap and figured I would just take my time in the race. I felt way better in the second moto, I had one swap but that track was super tough. I really didn’t know where I was when I got into second, I couldn’t see (Paul) Carpenter and I was thinking he got tenth in the first moto, so staying in second would get me the overall. My mechanic Andy wrote that Nemeth was catching me a little bit so I turned it up and pulled five seconds on him. Then it was twelve on him and I backed it down a bit to make sure I had it on the last lap.

How does it feel to win your first national in three years?

It feels good for sure, obviously I didn’t get any moto wins but the overall fell to me and I’ll take it. It’s kind of nice to stand on top of the box and be the short guy. I was pumped about it and it would be nice to get some “w’s” and make up some points but either way, it’s good.

Klatt was consistent all day and used 3-2 moto scores to get the overall.

You were saying that this year’s Gopher track was rougher than you had ever seen it?

Oh for sure, it’s always rough but it was overcast all day and the sun didn’t come out until the second moto, at least a little bit anyways. The track then dried up a bit and made it a bit better but until then, the sand was packing and making massive bumps. That wasn’t too much fun on the bike and the body really. It made quite a few lines and it was rough, they made more 180 degree turns and that made it tougher also. It used to be a little more sweeping also and then there were spots that were faster than in years past.

So after winning the overall and with your teammate having some bad luck, you still only made up two points on him. Did that bum you out when you saw that?

Yeah a little bit, I was doing the math and I thought it would be better. Any points are better than none I guess. I wanted to be consistent at Gopher because I knew there would be lots of guys that weren’t going to be. I think that anything can happen in this sport and there are four races left, I have to finish out the series strong and consistent and see what happens. No mess-ups for me.

Dusty hanging it out at the Dunes, a track that he's always done well at.

How is your travelling going to affect you, going all the way back to the island each week?

I’m going to stay with JSR after next week to make it a little easier, this week wasn’t so bad going to Ontario but it will be better on me staying back there before Moncton. Really, there is only five weeks that I have to travel far, it’s not that bad!

What are you going to do to celebrate the victory and the bonus money?

Nothing, it’s going to go right in the bank and I’m leaving it. I need every penny I can get.

What about the Pugs? Will they a little something extra?

Yeah, for sure they will maybe get some bacon strips in a bag. They will be all excited and jumping up and down.

The Toyota/Red Bull/Blackfoot Yamaha team is looking good with Facciotti and Klatt 1-2 in the MX1 class with four rounds left.

What are their names?

Well, we got the original black one that was mine. Her name is Jenna, the first one we got was Bunny, her brother is Otis. That’s my dad’s. My dog had pups and we kept two because one had a bad eye and needed surgery that cost a ton of money. We held onto her because we had invested so much into her! We have a farm of them here pretty much.

Everything good in the truck with Colton? Both of you going for the same thing and are real close in speed.

Oh yeah, for sure. We’re both really competitive but maybe we’ll see when the points close up a bit and that might be a little different but right now, we’re pretty good.