After spending recent months competing further north in the Australian Karting Championship, Team Mathew Basso Racing returned home for the annual 38th City of Melbourne Titles, contested in Port Melbourne. After a series of impressive results in the Australian Karting Championship, the team was hopeful of a big outcome as they made amends for their poor luck in the 2023 running of the same event.
Having concluded Friday’s allocated practice day, the team was brimming with confidence as they strolled into Saturday, overall, second fastest heading into qualifying. The team’s superstar driver, Mat Basso, didn’t need a second invitation to make the most of this weekend. The #18 gliding his Arrow kart to pole position by a dominant 0.129s over 2nd!
Basso’s brilliance continued to flourish as they took to the heats. Mat took the opening race over close rival Sam March by over 1s as he looked to make his mark on the category for the weekend. March and Basso would continue to scrap it out in Heat 2, a fiery affair that saw the two go toe-to-toe, jostling for position until the chequered flag – March narrowly taking victory before a post-race penalty handed Basso the win!
As the field began to close the gap to the young pilot, Basso responded in the only way he knew how – putting his foot down in a masterful display that saw him carve his path out on track, waltzing to victory by 2.5s over Sam March and the fastest lap of the race by over 0.100s.
With everything on the line for the final, Team MBR had both fingers and toes crossed to snare another massive result in 2024, looking to go two positions better than last year’s attempt and take championship glory. The lights went out, and we were away, Basso with a blinder of a start that saw him get the holeshot and take the lead! March set pursuit in 2nd, slowly catching the #18 as his kart began to warm up to race temperature.
The tension was rising, March finding a way past Basso on lap 4, but the 2023 Victorian State Champion maintained his composure, filing in behind March to stay within touch. The two champions continued to battle it out as Basso bombarded March with overtake attempts, finding a way through on lap 9. Basso elected to pull the pin on the speed grenade that was the #18, driving away from the ensuing March to build just under a 1s gap!
The laps count down, Basso looking more like the inevitable winner before disaster. The kart began to over-grip, Basso’s pace slowing metre by metre. March now found his way onto the tail of the young pilot, Basso having to draw from all his race craft to keep the ferocious March behind. It was a sprint to the line finish… Basso takes it! No more than half a kart length as the crowd cheers for yet another sensational finish!
It was utter jubilation back at the team’s headquarters, Mathew rapt with the result;
“Finally, I got my chance to win the City of Melbourne and took it with everything I had. We were fast all weekend, but in the final, with two laps to go, my kart started to go off – Sammy March was all over me like a rash on the final lap, but we held on to take the win!”
He won the State Championship at the same track earlier in the year, so it was good to get one on him.
“Thank you to my team, especially my parents, for everything they do”.”
Mathew would like to thank his sponsors: Marco Motorsport, Castrol Racing, Morris Finance, UNIT Clothing, NGK Spark Plugs, D2N Technology Solutions, Raceline Motorsports Racewear, The Silverdale Consulting Group, Oakley Australia, Platinum Potions, Ethika, PREPD Hydration, Alkaline World, 808 Dude, New Balance and MotiV8 Training for all their support.
