Mathew Basso took to the second round of the Victorian Metro Karting Series over the weekend at the Eastern Lions Kart Club.
Basso took the opening round win at the Oakleigh Go Kart Club and led the championship coming into the second round. In a high-quality field of local, state and national level caliber drivers the Tony Kart Australia Driver had his work cut out for him. Basso showed encouraging pace at the previous weekend Golden Power Series round and Saturday practice going into Sunday Qualifying.
In a low grip cold Sunday morning qualifying session, Mathew hit the track and was looking to try and get as high up the grid as possible. The Tony Kart Australia driver was immediately in the top ten and pushing his way up to the top five drivers but the conditions were tricky. Basso set the seventh fastest time and put himself out of row four for the opening heat.
Starting out of position seven, Basso was able to get a great start jumping up into the top five by the end of the open lap. The Tony Kart Australia driver dropped back to position six on lap two but continued to push on, showing improved pace and pushing the top five drivers along. Setting lap times very similar to the top three drivers, Mathew was able to come home in position six while accumulating more strong points to his championship and an improved effort from qualifying.
Basso was now starting out of position six. Due to the outside row start, he was hung out wide and was pushed back a couple of spots off the start. Finishing the opening lap in position eight, Mathew immediately made a move for position seven on lap two. In the following lap the Tony Kart Australia driver made his way into position six and went in chase of the top five drivers. The Cadet 12 ace again showed competitive pace, chasing after the top five and came home in another competitive position looking to the final for more improvement.
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Heading into the final Mathew was looking to try and improve position at the start of the race. The Tony Kart Australia driver made his way into the top five and was right in the battle. As the race went on, Basso dropped back to position three but continued to push after the race leaders. Mathew once again had very similar pace to the race leaders and came home in position six with more good points towards his championship.
Mathew spoke after racing about a tough weekend by his own standards. “I had another tough weekend here at Pucka. Just something about this track that I struggle with especially when I need to punch out consistent error free times. I had the pace all weekend but made silly little mistakes which caused me to lose time and then contact with the leaders. We have Round 3 of the Victorian Country Series next weekend at Portland so I will be looking for a stronger result from a track that I had great success on back in my Cadet 9 days”.
Mathew would like to thank his supporters: 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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