Mathew Basso hit the road to a wet and muddy Hamilton Kart Club for the 5th Round of the Victorian Country Series. Basso has been one of the front runners across the Championship and took out the last round of the Series at Horsham.
Mathew was looking to continue his strong championship over the weekend. Basso utilised Saturday practice to put himself in the best place and setup window going into Saturday afternoon qualifying.
Mathew put himself immediately in the fight for pole position and was looking strong. Basso continued to drive well in the low grip conditions and was getting as much pace and grip out of his kart as possible. In an extremely close finish, Mathew stopped the clock in 2nd position and only 5 thousandths of a second off pole position!
Sunday morning was the first heat race of the weekend and Mathew was looking to go one better than qualifying. Basso was able to get a lightening start and jumped straight into the lead of the race! Mathew was showing supreme kart control and was slowly able to open margin as the race went on. Basso started his racing in the best possible fashion, grabbing the heat victory by over 1 second!
Heat 2 was also under wet conditions and Mathew was looking to continue his strong start to racing. Basso got another excellent start and jumped straight into position number 1 but was under attack in the first half of the race from James Snaith and Jayden Dellar. Mathew was able to open a 10-kart length lead in the back stages of the race and looked certain for victory. In unforeseen circumstances, Basso dropped down to 5th place after thinking the chequered flag had been waved. This put Mathew in a fight for the podium spots in the round deciding final.
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Basso headed into the final with determination to grab the best result he possibly could! Mathew got another excellent start and jumped straight into 2nd spot. Basso was right on the back of the race leader in the earlier stages and was pushing extremely hard to try and take the lead. Unfortunately, Mathew made a few mistakes across the race which resulted in him dropping off the leader. Basso was able to come across the line in 2nd spot and grab another podium result!
Mathew’s father Paul spoke post weekend on a wet and wild weekend of racing. “What a weekend. The weather was terrible and the karts look like they have been on a motocross track. We came away from the weekend with a bag full of points and except for that small mistake in Heat 2, Mathew did a fantastic job”.
Mathew rued his mistake in heat 2 in what is going to be a tight championship finish. “I can’t believe I pulled in early in Heat 2. The series is long and we need every point we can get. To lose those few valuable points could end up being costly when everything is added up after the final round in Ballarat in a few weeks’ time.
“I couldn’t hold on to the leader in the final. We just didn’t have the kart to keep up with the pace he was setting. Onwards and upwards to Ballarat”.
Mathew would like to thank: Melbourne Kart Centre, Castrol Racing, UNIT Clothing, MEARTH Electric Scooters, Atlas Neck Braces, Oakley Australia, Platinum Potions, Mayhem Tools, Ethika, PREPD Hydration, Albek Luggage, SAKA Water, 808 Dude, Secure Max & Co, Bakers Delight, Spark Plugs Direct, Raceline Motorsports Racewear, New Balance, Spark Plugs Direct and MotiV8 Training.
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