Tony Kart Australia driver Mathew Basso took to the second round of the Victorian Country Series at the Warnambool Kart Club over the weekend. Young Mathew, running in all three major open series in the state of Victoria has had promising results to date and looked to continue his good season. Basso who is a regular front runner in the Cadet 12 class, looked for a competitive result.
Basso showed strong pace in his practice sessions on Saturday and was the fastest in timed practice in the session before qualifying. With confidence high the Tony Kart Australia pilot was excited and ready to go for the ultra-important session. Young Mathew had his Saturday afternoon take a turn for the worse only fifty meters into his qualifying. Basso made a mistake, went off the track beaching himself in a gravel trap and was out of the session. Due to this Basso was to start at the rear of grid for heat one, with a big Sunday of racing now needed.
A wet start to Sunday was presented to Basso which wasn’t exactly a disappointment, knowing his strength in wet conditions. After great pace on Saturday young Mathew was keen to put his head down and make up positions as quick as possible. The Tony Kart Australia ace had a brilliant start jumping from position sixteen to ninth on the opening lap. By lap three, Basso had made the move for eighth and was showing great pace in tricky conditions. Young Mathew continued making up spots coming home in sixth spot overall in a great fight back after a tough qualifying.
Basso starting further up the grid in heat two due to his progress through the field in heat one, he knew he had to get another strong start. Mathew by the end of lap one had jumped into the top three and was looking to make up further positions in the race. The Tony Kart Australia driver made the move for second spot on lap three with race leader Rusty Ponting the only driver in front of him. Basso finished second overall setting the fastest lap of the race on the way and putting himself in a great position for the final.
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Basso starting off the front row for the final was confident with his fightback and that he could challenge for victory. Mathew got a great start slotting behind the pole sitter off the start but was pushed wide at turn one and dropped spots at the start. At the completion of lap one Basso was down in position six and had to dig deep to fightback. The Tony Kart Australia driver immediately went on the attack, making his way back into third position on lap three and going in chase of the front two. Mathew showing strong pace setting the fastest lap on his fight back finished on the podium in third overall.
Mathew noted he was happy with his pace and after a mistake in qualifying it was a long championship battle. “I was fast all weekend but really made it hard for myself by crashing out in qualifying. I was able to put this behind me and charge through the field in both heat’s 1 and 2 to start the final in P2 only to be tagged from the rear off the start which caused me to drop back several places. I just put my head down and worked my way through the pack while ticking of fastest laps with each circulation of the track but ultimately just ran out of laps so I had to settle for 3rd. Not a great result but never the less a good result as this is a long championship and it’s all about the points”.
Basso will next hit the open racing circuit at the third round of the Australian Kart Championship at Bolivar. Mathew would like to thank his sponsors: Tony Kart Australia, Baron Engines, Bakers Delight Dromana, PREPD Hydration, First National Real Estate, Secure Max & Co, Oakley Australia and MotiV8 Training.
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