Hot off the back of a City of Melbourne titles podium, Team Mathew Basso Racing once again ventured to the heart of rural Victoria to contest round four of the Victorian Country Series held at the Wimmera racing circuit, in Horsham. With a hot run of form as of recent, team pilot Mathew Basso was once again contesting in both KA3 Junior Light and Heavy, keen to stamp his authority on the two categories.
After a frustrating qualifying at the City of Melbourne titles that saw Mathew have to charge through the field in the heats, the #18 was driven to secure a position at the top of the timing charts as he returned to the country series for qualifying. He did exactly that; after looking speedy through timed practice, Basso strut his way to pole position in style, dominating both KA3 Junior Light and Junior Heavy to claim pole in both classes!
South Australian contender Noah Enright joined Mathew off the front row, the two having duelled for first place glory throughout the previous rounds. Basso got to work early, securing the lead in each of his heats to build a slight gap over the pursuing Enright. Whilst Enright displayed bursts of speed to take fastest laps in the heats, Basso’s supreme racecraft ensured he was able to maintain a distance to the #35 behind, clean sweeping the heats for victory!
KA3 Junior Heavy was yet another similar set of affairs, the Victorian State Champion highlighting why he earned his crown earlier in the year, obliterating the opposition to win all his heats with several fastest laps to boot in trying weather conditions – Basso demonstrating the full extent of his driving prowess.
With the finals set to get underway, Basso and his team looked to capitalise on their first place starting position, a result of their excellent speed in the heats. As Basso and Enright once again went toe-to-toe in Junior Light, the flag dropped and they were away as the 17-kart field hurled into turn one. Basso occupied the lead at the end of the opening lap, Enright hot on his heels. As the two began to build a gap to the following pack, Enright launched his #35 machine down the inside of Basso, the two dicing over the ensuing laps for first place. Basso edged ahead of Enright on lap five, looking to deal the fatal blow early in the final and run away. Basso’s supreme speed and consistency ensured exactly that, storming home to take an emphatic victory that saw him win by a two second margin by the end of the 18-lap final.
Still running off the adrenaline from his Junior Light final victory, Basso suited up for the final race of the weekend, KA3 Junior Heavy. As with the earlier heats, Basso hit the lead from turn one, pushing to break away from the rest of the field as he did in KA3 Light. Basso wrung the neck of his EOS kart gliding his way to victory lane and obtaining the prized grand chelem – fastest lap of the race, leading every lap and taking victory.
Exuberant after his dominant performance over the course of the weekend, the State Champion commented “What an incredible weekend. Racing in two classes really took a lot out of me and to be honest, I am totally spent but stoked with the double victory and taking home maximum series points heading into the final two rounds of the series. I’m now completely focused on the final round of the Australian Kart Championship held in Melbourne in a couple of weeks’ time, where I will be competing in the KA3 Junior Class against Australia’s best drivers”.
Mathew and the team would like to thank their partners: Melbourne Kart Centre, Castrol Racing, UNIT Clothing, NGK Spark Plugs, GANT Karting Gloves, MEARTH Electric Scooters, Atlas Neck Braces, Oakley Australia, Platinum Potions, Ethika, PREPD Hydration, Albek Luggage, SAKA Water, 808 Dude, BODIE’Z Protein Water, Raceline Motorsports Racewear, New Balance and MotiV8 Training.
