Catching Up with...Dusty Klatt

Aug 4 2009 - 12:43pm - Steve Matthes

Colton Facciotti won the CMRC Moncton national with a great 1-1 ride. It was a normal, dominating Facciotti day really and almost assured him of repeating as Canada’s MX1 title holder. I even feel a little bad for not interviewing him about his day but the buzz in the pits was about his teammate, Dusty Klatt who went 2-2.
Klatt started out by jumping a big leap in Sunday morning’s practice that had never been jumped before, ended up being one of only five guys to do it (Jeff Northrup, Paul Carpenter, Spencer Knowles and Kyle Beaton being the others) and the only guy to jump it in the race. His day could’ve been a disaster when he went down opening lap of the first moto in a spectacular crash but he got up in last and charged his way through the field to get second. Then he and Colton had a dice of death in the second moto before Facciotti eventually wore down Klatt. So to put it bluntly, Klatt was the talk of the day and that’s why we had to get some words from him. If any Americans are reading this, I’d like to tell you that you never saw this Klatt at any time in his one and a half seasons in the US.

DMX: Dusty, great riding today. Talk about your race.

Dusty Klatt: First moto, I had an awesome crash and I think I got some oooo’s and ahhhhh’s from the crowd with that one. I came up short on that infield triple, my pegs dragged and I came up short. Colton was right in front of me and did the same thing but luckily, he ended up saving it. So, I came up short and ended up side saddling the bike and then I hit a big mud-pile off the side of the track, got whiskey-throttle and the bike shot about twenty feet in the air. The bike landed wheels first luckily and I was two straight-aways down from everyone. I had no choice but to start laying the wood down and that’s what I did.

I thought that Paul Carpenter wasn’t very far back in the points from me, so I’d better get going. I just pinned it for as long as I could. I honestly didn’t think I was going to make it up that far, the speed in the MX1 class has been pretty good this year. But then again, I felt good all weekend. I was pumped when I crossed the line in second, it was a hard charge.

Have you ever come from last to second before in a moto?

I went from last to first one time in the 250 class but not in the 450’s. So anyways, the second moto I came around in third and we all went into the new GP section which was super rutty. I just held it wide open and didn’t want to get roosted by anyone. I got by Colton and Carpenter and started pinning it wide open to get away. I tried to anyways, I also tried to huck my gap a bit but it wasn’t making too much of a difference really. He’s been riding so strong this year, I gave it my all and I was definitely pooped when he got by me. I gave it one more try and pulled close again but that first moto wore me out a bit I think. It’s pretty easy to just sit in second and cruise around but that first moto, I charged so hard all race and we haven’t had this hot of weather yet in this season. It’s pretty warm, not American heat but warm for us guys.

Klatt had a great day but Colton was even better. Still, Dusty has nothing to be ashamed of.

So let’s talk about that jump, you and I were talking about it Saturday night and I didn’t think it was possible but you seemed determined that it could be done. What were your thoughts about jumping the Klatt-apult? (After he jumped it Sunday morning, I went over to talk to him about it and he just looked at me and said “The Klatt-apult, that’s what it should be called.” Which is brilliant of course and who’s going to argue with the guy that had the balls to jump it first, right?)

I was eyeing it up last year and I wanted to do it last year. I got in crap last year because I was cutting the track and doing loops around to try it. I got a nice warning about that because I guess you can’t do it. Coming into this week, I was thinking about it and how cool it would be to huck it. Sure enough, I chickened out on Saturday but this morning I jumped almost to the face to make sure I was going to make it and then I fired it out there.

Was it pretty easy once you did it?

Yeah, it actually was. They put a bit of a lip on it and it was a sick jump. It was fun and I think the crowd enjoyed it.

Here's Klatt jumping the Klatt-apult. He jumped it, so he named it. It was big and reminded me of Larocco's Leap at Redbud. Ryan Gauld paced it off at about 120 feet and he wasn't wobbling like most Sunday mornings.

And you got to name it!

Yeah, that was cool. Hopefully it stays that way.

I think it will, what about that infield triple in the second moto? Who do you think built that face- Stevie Wonder?

(Laughs) I don’t know, was Ronnie Renner here this weekend? That thing was steeper than a super-kicker. I hit it and got more air off that thing then I did on my big jump. I dreaded it every lap coming up to it and Colt told me he didn’t want to jump it and didn’t think I could do it every lap. I almost did though!

Was this your best day this year, even though you didn’t win?

It was a good moto day for me. I think it was honestly a cool weekend for me, to do that jump and claim fame to that. I mean it’s definitely an awesome race for the fans and I could hear them when I came around. I did a big one-legger for them out there to celebrate (laughs). I threw it out there after I sat down for the last two laps.

In the second moto, this was about as far away as these two ever got for 90% of the race.

What’s it going to take for you to win this thing? You have four motos left and are thirty-three down…

Yeah, I lost some more points today and that’s a bit of a bummer. Colton’s riding so well right now and you can’t take anything away from him. Unless he wads his lips up, it’s his.

Yeah, we know that the Klatt-apult was almost a second faster and you jumped that infield triple when he wasn’t for a few laps, yet he was right on you. Where do you think he was faster than you?

He said that when I made it good I’d pull from him. He was pulling me in the GP section for sure, maybe he wasn’t getting as bogged down as much as me. The ruts back there were crazy all day long.

Your bike looked like it worked really good as well, seemed like anywhere you wanted to go, you could. I noticed in the first moto you were really taking some different lines at top speed to get around guys.

Yeah, it did for sure. I’m definitely happy with my Yamaha this year and honestly, it feels like my old Honda. From what I can remember anyways.

Last words?

Big thanks to Yamaha/Toyota/Red Bull Blackfoot Yamaha team. Thanks to chicken fingers here for coming out (Danny Brault) and my mechanic Andrew, Joseph Skidd for the suspension being primo for me, the crowd for being into it. It’s pretty cool when they are into it. The pugs should be pumped, maybe some more bacon strips for them this week. They like treats.