By Allison Kennedy
Photos by Tim Dailey

 
Caption time! Klatt does some minor
clean up after his Indy crash.

Dusty Klatt’s Indy SX weekend started with a phone call that his race bike had been stolen and it ended with five stitches and a huge hole in his tongue. It wasn’t exactly the breakthrough weekend Klatt has been hoping for, but he’s not letting it get him down. The Blackfoot team pulled together and built a bike for Klatt, who was determined to make his second main event. It all ended on the first lap of his first day qualifier. What’s the good news? Well, Klatt says he is getting more comfortable in the series and is focused on figuring out his start problems, which he sees as the main obstacle to his SX success. We caught up with Klatt at the Georgia Practice Facility to see how he’s feeling about heading to Daytona.  

RXC: First of all, how are you doing physically?
Dusty Klatt: Well, my tongue is still a little fat, but it’s better. I’ve been better, obviously. My head was a little sore afterwards and I had to take a couple of Tylenol. My tongue had a pretty big gash out of it. I couldn’t really eat anything. I was able to get a few grapes down but that was about it. It pretty much closed up over night, so that was a good thing. So it’s just a little fat right now. Then I have five stitches in the bottom of my chin. That was barely an issue; I barely noticed that. My tongue has been the main source of the pain.

So, what happened exactly?
I messed up coming up to one of the triples and I let off and I was just going to double it. I ended up going a little too far and I landed right at the bottom of the third one, front-end heavy so … I pretty much just got one-punched and cleaned out. I wasn’t out cold, lying there, but I was out of it until I was out of the building and sitting in one of the mules. It’s not like I was KO’d big time or anything. That was in the first lap of my first day qualifier. I got taken out in the second corner and then got up and messed up the triple and then ended up really packing ’er in. It was a real bummer of a weekend.

As Klatt says, the mouth doesn't waste any
time. He plans to be back for Daytona.

It was already a tough weekend for Blackfoot heading to Indy. When did you find out your race bike had been stolen?
Johnny, Mitch and I found out during our stopover on the way there. We had two flights to Indy and we found out in between flights, while we were having breakfast. It’s so hard to believe; you don’t want to believe it. But … they were gone, so it was a pretty big thing to chew on. It was a huge bummer for sure. But, the Blackfoot team worked hard to put a bike together and I thank them for that. I was hoping the race would have gone a little bit better for us, but that’s just the way it goes, I guess.

How is the new bike?
The bike doesn’t have a full-on race motor or anything. It’s kind of like the one I am practicing on now; it’s not really comparable to what I was riding before. They are going to do a few things to it this week that should make it quite a bit better. They are going to add some small stuff to it to get a few more ponies out of her and I will just be riding that one for now. Who knows what will happen with our race bikes, if they will ever find them? Probably not. It would be nice, but I kind of doubt it myself. 

So, you are three races into the seven race series. How are you feeling about things in general?
I feel great, actually. I just had a really bad weekend, I guess. The weekend before didn’t really go that great either. I worked on starts the whole day before we headed out to Indianapolis. I felt great going into the weekend but things happened. I just have to take it easy. I’m just going to go to the gym this week and I’ll probably ride Wednesday and then we are driving out to Daytona on Thursday. Hopefully this weekend will go a little better and I will make it into the main.

Klatt was fast in practice.

Getting a start is so important. Kelly Smith didn’t qualify for the main last weekend and this weekend he finished fourth after getting a good start in the main. What’s it going to take to make that happen for you?
Yeah, he had good starts all weekend long. He rode well, that’s for sure. What’s it going to take? Just practice I guess. A start can change so much. Half the reason that it didn’t happen for me is that I just keep getting stuck behind people. There are so many riders out there, they mess up and they are rolling stuff. As soon as you are stuck behind them, the leaders are just gone. You can’t have that happening in a three or four lap race. That’s pretty much all the day qualifiers are [four laps], the night qualifiers are six [laps] and the LCQ is three laps. It’s over pretty fast so you’ve got to make stuff happen. The start is pretty much what it comes down to. It probably accounts for 70 percent of the whole game right there. It’s a tough one … and when you are a bigger kid on the line, it makes it even a little tougher [laughs]. Oh well, we’ll wait and see what happens this weekend. Hopefully, it goes a little better.  

Your practice lap times have you right in the mix. How hard is it to ride to your potential during the race?
That’s just it. Practice can go really well and all but then you get out there in the race, and you get a bad start and your lap times are freaking two seconds slower than they could have been. It all just comes down to that start again. It just plays such a big part; you just need to do it.

Are you getting more comfortable out there?
Yes. I was a little nervous, obviously, coming into the first one. I’m feeling a lot better now; I’m not such a head case going into it. It’s getting a little easier for me. You kind of know what to expect and know what the riders are like and which part is going to mean the most out there. Starts are the main thing right now. If I can get those down, I will do better.

So if a start accounts for 70 percent of the race, how much do you think confidence accounts for?
I don’t know. I mean, I know I can do well and get up there. I believe I can be in the top 10. It’s just a matter of getting that start and being able to ride your race the whole way through, without getting tired or anything … and I feel fine on that part. St. Louis was a little bit tough, it got rough with lots of ruts and it was quite a bit different than what we’d been practicing on, so it took a little bit more out of me. I just stepped it up a bit during the week and rode a few more laps, and it was more like the real thing. That was preparation for round two, but crappy starts slowed that one down. Then this weekend … well, it was just horrible. Hopefully something will work out soon. That’s about all it comes down to.

Good luck in Daytona.
Thanks.