During the first round of the European Championship Road Racing Women’s 1000cc held at Misano Adriatico (Italy) last weekend, Nina Prinz (Team Yamaha Motor Germany) debuted on the R1 and took it to an impressive victory. The reigning European champion, from Mannheim/Leutkirch in Germany, had been consistently fast during all qualifying sessions and dominated throughout the weekend, even during qualifying where she competed against many men from the open class. Starting from pole-position in the Women’s round, Nina led the entire race lapping a considerable three seconds per laps faster than her rivals, some on 1000ccc machinery other on 600cc. Over the race distance of 10 laps she managed to create a comfortable 32 second gap and thus take victory with relative ease. Susie Grayson from Great Britain finished 3rd aboard her YZF-R1. With the first round completed in the women’s championship the team looks forward with confidence towards the remaining two rounds, the next being held in Assen (the Netherlands) on the 15th of June. A secondary championship that the team attends with riders; Jorg Teuchert, Andrzej Pawalec and Nina Prinz, is the German Superbike Championship (IDM) starting in two weeks time at the Lausitzring. Nina will be competing among 58 other (male) riders in a very competitive field. With the official support of the promising Nina Prinz, Yamaha is aiming to increase the popularity of female motorcycle riding and racing. Nina Prinz “This first race was really perfect! The bike worked great and we had no problems at all during any of the sessions. In qualifying it was quite difficult to put in a fast lap as it was busy on the track with 36 riders, of which only 10 were reasonably competitive. It was a nice experience to be the fastest one out there, even faster than the men in the open class. The woman’s championship is nice but the real challenge for me will be the IDM. I think I will be able to learn a lot there. I hope to score some points in IDM but it for sure will not be easy.” Michael Galinski (Team Manager – Team Yamaha Motor Germany) “It is a great result for Nina and the team! The bike really worked perfect this weekend. During the sessions we have been working on the best set-up and it obviously worked out well, also thanks to the threaded Dunlop tyres that performed very well. Nina is very analytical and capable of setting her bike up, pretty amazing for a 25-year-old. We now look forward to the two remaining races in this class and of course the IDM Superbike races ahead. I think it will be possible for her to score some points in that class as well. We now have a three day test at Lausitzring with 30 other teams where she can get accustomed to the slick tyres for the next IDM Superbike race. We will do our very best to give Nina the best package possible.”