Nathan Bettencourt has been on a steep but impressive learning curve all season. The Italian round at Cremona proved to be no different. Unlike the previous rounds, Bettencourt was familiar with the track since the season kicked off in April with a weekend of testing. 

 

That experience paid dividends early. During free practice, Nathan secured P10, and felt the pace was there for Superpole, but from the opening sessions, the tightly packed grid left no room for error. He was caught up with a large group and was never able to set a flyer and ended with a frustrating P16. 

 

In race 1, Bettencourt had a solid start, worked his way through the pack, and crossed the line in P8, only .9 seconds off of the leader. 

 

Bettencourt clocked the 3rd fastest lap time in race 1, which secured his front row start for race 2, his second of the season. 

 

With a clear track ahead, Bettencourt got a decent launch, but by lap 2 was shuffled back to P11, then lost the lead group and dropped to P14. With a few laps left, the pack bunched up and Bettencourt made some calculated and precise passes, putting him in P5 with 3 corners to go on the last lap. In spectacular FIM Yamaha R3 bLU cRU World Cup fashion, it all came down to the last corner, when the dust settled, Bettencourt crossed the line in P9 1.2 behind the leader. 

 

Nathan Bettencourt: “Overall, I’m happy to be up there with the leaders, but now I want to take the next step and get onto the podium. Our final round is in Estoril and I’m ready to give it my all for the last two races.”