Mathew Basso continued his blockbuster 2022 season by hitting the road and heading to the newly extend Wimmera Kart Club for Round 4 of the Victorian Country Series. Basso has had an excellent Victorian Country Series in 2022 with multiple podiums and results that have him right in the championship hunt!
Saturday afternoon qualifying was going to be a crucial part of Mathew’s championship tilt! Saturday was full of rain and tough conditions with Basso being well off this pace in practice until an engine gremlin was detected prior to qualifying. Mathew now knowing he had a package he could fight with, hit the track against his 15 rivals. Basso quickly put himself into the top 10 and then into the top 5 going for pole position. Mathew was setting strong times and his fastest lap put him into 3rd spot and on the inside of the 2nd row to start Sunday morning.
Sunday morning was greeted with heavy fog and greasy tough conditions with all drivers on slick tyres. Basso who has shown his excellent kart control in low grip situations over the years, was able to take the lead into turn 1! Mathew was able to keep his cool in the tough conditions, opened up a margin on the rest of the field and had put himself in a race winning position. Basso put in a stellar drive and was able to come away with the heat 1 victory by 4 seconds!
Mathew had put himself up onto pole position for heat 2 and knew his start was going to be crucial. Basso was able to get a clean get away and once again on cold tyres opened up a sizeable margin in the middle stages of the race. Heat 2 came alive in the back stages with Mathew’s karts tyres going off with championship rival James Snaith making a charge towards the back of him. Basso was able to hold his nerve in the back end of the race making it his 2nd heat win of the weekend!
The nerves and excitement were high going into the final, as Mathew was looking to make it a clean sweep of the round. Basso got an excellent start and was able to open up margin on the rest of the field in the early stages. Mathew had his head down and was driving superbly at the front of the field. Basso had challenges in the back end of the race but was able to manage the margin going into the final laps. Mathew was able to take the clean sweep and his first Victorian Country Series round win for 2022!
Mathew spoke post weekend on his breakout day. “WOW, that was an awesome weekend. It didn’t start off the way I would have liked but we were able to put it all together, clean sweep the weekend for the win and bag a lot of points for the championship”.
Mathew’s father Paul added how his son relishes the tricky low grip conditions. “Mathew drove great all weekend and just loves driving in these types of tricky conditions. He was able to manage his tyres going off towards the end of heat 2 and the final to come home for the win”.
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, SAKA Water, Albek Gear Bags, 808 Dude, Secure Max & Co, Bakers Delight, Spark Plugs Direct, Raceline Motorsports Racewear, New Balance, Spark Plugs Direct and MotiV8 Training.
Wednesday 17th August, 2022 by Media Release Kart Sport News
(pic – Darren’s Sportography)
