China FMX: The Racer – Dillon Kattler

Following on from our recent article ‘The Other Side of FMX’, this fourth instalment of China FMX introduces you to the story of Western Australian athlete, Dillon Kattler.

Perth’s Dillon Kattler, a relatively unknown name in the world of FMX has just returned from the job of a lifetime spending six months living and breathing FMX with Team ARD in Tianjin China. At 22, he might seem a little green but Dillon is no newcomer to motorcycle riding. Having been on a bike since he was five with ten years of racing experience behind him, Dillon tried his hand at FMX four years ago and to say it came naturally would be an understatement. Getting bored with racing he was introduced to Matty Curtis, an FMX compound owner in Perth by his friend Jayden Eldridge. Dillon took to the ramps with ease and learnt tricks fast but if he was going to do FMX properly the logical step would be to master the backflip. Which he did effortlessly.

Fast forward four years and Dillon was experiencing a bit of a hiatus from FMX but when he received a random phone call from FMX OG and ARD Team manager Cameron ‘Sturto’ Sturtridge, asking if he was interested in joining the ARD team for 6 months in China, he was stoked. This is what Dillon had to say, “It was kind of a bit of a shock (receiving the call), I really didn’t expect a phone call, I actually had not been riding much leading up to it but my good friend Billy Hepi put my name forward to Sturto vouching for my abilities, I was super excited to get the opportunity but like I said it was totally out of the blue so I was super shocked by it all”.

Dillon rides a KXF450 making him the only four-stroke rider on the team. This raised its own issues, with the rest of the team being on Yamaha 2 strokes, Dillon needed to have a parts allowance specifically for his bike, different maintenance schedules and even different tools. I asked Dillon, how his bike handled, and if it caused any problems for him on tour, he said. “my bikes a pretty well stock KXF450, suspension, cut down seat, grab holes, and flip levers. Nothing much special about it, but it was a different bike to the other guys. Having Joel Brown as the mechanic here is great, so he takes care of any of the big stuff on our bikes, the day to day maintenance like air filters, lubricating the chains etc, we tend to help out with, as far as parts we are pretty well stocked here ARD made sure we basically had a full workshop stocked with parts but sometimes things come up we weren’t expecting. When that happened (Joel) Browny coordinated with Sturto and ARD to get them shipped over from home, it’s all been pretty easy”.

Living in a foreign country, if even you’re working full time has good perks. Being able to experience another culture and let your hair down from time to time is fun because after all, all work and no play makes FMX a dull sport. “While here, among other things, I got the chance to visit the Great Wal, it was one of the coolest places I’ve seen. It definitely needs to be experienced firsthand, plus the trip was fun leading up to it too, we had some friends over from Perth that all spent the night in Beijing, we went out and had a bit of fun without going into o much detail – it was a solid night. As amazing as everything was though, this trip has really given me a bigger appreciation of everything back home, and life in general”.

If this humble lad keeps working hard he will be a name to remember in the world of FMX so remember the name Dillon Kattler because it won’t be the last time you hear it.

Dillon would like to thank 5th Element Kawasaki Mandurah, Vexea MX gear, Westefex Graffics and ARD along with Jayden Eldridge, Billy Hepi and Matty Curtis and his Mum and Dad for helping him along the way.

To keep up with what Dillon is doing, follow him on Instagram @dillonkattler.

Coupla jumps from this week. #allday #australianrampdesign #china #vexeamx

A video posted by Dillon Kattler (@dillonkattler) on Sep 11, 2016 at 1:28am PDT

If you enjoyed Dillon’s story make sure you check out the other stories…
Part 1 – The Other Side of FMX 
Part 2 – Brayden ‘Muggins’ Davies
Part 3 – Codie Rooney

Stay tuned over the coming weeks for more personal insights from the riders and management on their own experiences and methods to maintain motivation and stay focused during their time aboard.