2007 Western Four
Stroke Nationals: Round 1 of 4:
Klatt Klobers 4-Stroke
MX Nationals!
Speedworld MX Park
Surprise,
Story courtesy: W4SN
Photos by: Casey Sherman and Eric R. Monroe
Dusty Klatt, the Three-time Canadian motocross champion,
backed by Star Racing, Yamaha, Lucas Oil, Toyota, FLY Gear, FMF, North
County Yamaha made his trek to Phoenix, Arizona and battled for
supremicy with sevety-five PRO’s during round one of The 2007 Western 4-Stroke
National Motocross Series taking place at Speedworld MX Park for the twelveth
consectutive year. Klatt raced
the W4SN for his second time in his career and went 1-3-1-1 to take the overall in
both the
Seemingly, the
Western Four Stroke MX Nationals has been a training place for riders coming
from outside the United States and for those not following the Supercross Series. As last years big dollar winner was none
other than Antonio Balbi, the Brazilian National MX
Champion. We saw the debut of Juss Laansoo at Speedworld MX Park who battled with the likes Two-Time
Four-Stroke Champion Mike Corder and Ryan Hughes,
Jesse Casillas, Tim Weigand,
Daryl Ecklund, Leighton Lillie, Carter Gurnee and we
have seen so many PRO entries from across the pond, across the states, down
from Alaska, Canada and up from Mexico and Brazil.
We would like to
credit and thank RacerX
RXC: Congrats on the win at the
Four-Stroke Nationals this weekend.
Dusty Klatt: Thanks. It was good. It was definitely
better than the last time I was there, two years ago, when I knocked myself
silly. I was out for like ten or fifteen minutes, I didn't remember anything
for a while; it was a good head whack. So this was much better, obviously.
W4SN: We recall in the
W4SN: We recall since we had 62 Premier
PRO entries, qualifier one saw Dusty Klatt edging out
Daryl Ecklund and Daton
Beavers. Fourth went to Tim Weigand with Zac Wray, Laansoo, Sherman, Jack
Carpenter, Vincent Rhodes and Robb Floth rounding out
the top ten.
In the main event moto one saw some huge ups and downs. Klatt
crashed out early on, National #1 Mike Corder, who
ran top five, had to pull off after motor mounts came undone. Big hitters,
Bobby Bonds and Daniel Blair who had been running top five returned to the pits
with some mechanical problems.
So, coming into Speedworld MX for Round One of the 2007 W4SN:
RXC: How did Saturday go in the
The
And Sunday on the 450?
In the 450's, they gave us gate picks based on the order you signed up and for
some reason we were damn near at the end, so I had the super-far outside gate
pick pretty much. I was actually able to get a second place start from out
there, which was pretty good. I was able to work into first place really
quickly. Sani was out front and I passed him two
corners later. He stuck with me for about half the race and then I pulled a
twenty-second lead from there. Then next moto, I got
the holeshot in that one and went from there, twenty
seconds ahead again.
You must be feeling like your fitness is good then?
Yeah, my fitness is good, that was one thing that was showing. Everyone pretty
much just hit the wall and it was super hot all weekend. It was dead dry heat
too; I was gagging from all the dust in my throat. It must have been over 35
degrees. It was that warm both days. It went good though.
What was the competition like?
It was good; it was better than just going there and not having any
competition. It's good to keep you on your edge and make sure you are actually
pushing and still in race mode. That's it for four-stroke nationals for a while
though. There is one at Glen Helen April 21/22, that's the weekend before
It must have felt good to stand on the top step of the podium again?
Yeah, it was good. It was good to get some wins in and to put some money in my
pocket anyway; there hasn't really been a whole lot of that stuff [laughs].
It was good though, I was just glad I made it out of there alive. It's never
nice going to a track you know you wadded hard at before.
What made you decide to buy a 450?
I just wanted to have it to play around and a bike to just ride anywhere. If I
want to go home or I want to go to Glammis, they
aren't going to want me to take my practice bike out there, with the race engine, I'd just blow it up. I just bought the 450. I was
cringing when I swiped my credit card but I was happy once I had it in my
hands.
Have you been riding both during the week?
I just ride the 450 here and there because I'm focusing on what I'm going to be
riding this summer. I'm not really too, too much faster on that 450. It's just
a stock one with a pipe and bars. I feel pretty good on the small bike so it
should go all right. I just have to make sure I get good starts and it should
all be good.
So who works on your
practice bike?
A: That would be my mechanic Glenn Hobson who does and awesome
job and glad to have him as a mechanic.
Q: OK, besides
thanking all your sponsors is there anyone else you would like to thank?
A: The Blackfoot team and
manager Brad Hoffman, and my agent Tony for giving me the opportunity to race
down here in the
The series heads to
For series
information go to: www.4StrokeNationals.com
or call Don Schneider, 503-756-4782
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Western Four Stroke
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