European Women Champion Nina
Prinz on Yamaha R1
Text and Photos Courtesy Yamaha Racing.
Edited by webBikeWorld.com.
Yamaha has long recognized that
not only do many women ride motorcycles -- they like to ride
fast on a race track too.
The most recent proof comes in
the shape of current Womens’ Road Racing European Champion
in the 1000 class Nina Prinz, who will team up with Yamaha
in 2008.
Twenty-five-year-old Nina, from
Mannheim/Leutkirch in Germany, won all three 2007 European
Women Championship races sanctioned by the UEM (European
Motorcycle Union).
This success landed her with the
opportunity to defend her title on Yamaha’s YZF-R1 Superbike
flagship, which she will race for the first time at Misano
(I) on 13 April, then Assen (NL) on 15 June and the final
Championship round will be held at Albacete (ESP) on 12
October.
Nina and her R1 will also be
competing in the male-dominated IDM German Superbike
Championship for Team Yamaha Motor Germany, riding alongside
former 2000 World Supersport champion Jörg Teuchert and
Polish rider Andrzej Pawalec.
On her signing Nina says; “I am
very pleased to have signed with Yamaha for this season!
During my first two outings on the R1 at Misano and during
the Yamaha Race Training in Valencia last week, I was really
impressed by the bike in terms of power and stability."
"The team has prepared a perfect
bike for me and being part of this outfit hopefully enables
me to progress further. With experienced riders as Jörg
aboard, I can really learn a lot. Both championships
are very competitive but my goal is to score as many points
as possible in the IDM and consolidate my championship title
status in the Womens Championship this year. The fact
that Yamaha actively supports female riders is a very
positive development for the sport and for us women in
particular!”
Nina got into motorcycle racing
via minibikes and got really serious when she entered the
national ADAC Junior Cup in Germany in 2000. Since
then she has graduated through National Supersport racing,
improving all the time, before adding some IDM Superbike
experience and European Womens’ Championship rides to her
portfolio in 2006. Nina simply dominated the 2007 UEM
series.
Nina is the second female star
that is officially supported by Yamaha. Reigning FIM
Motocross Women’s World Cup champion Katherine Prumm from
New Zealand will race on a Yamaha YZ250F in the newly
established 2008 Women Motocross World Championship.
Both Nina and Katherine hope to continue their success with
Yamaha and contribute to the increasing popularity of female
motorcycle riding and competition.
Nina Prinz Wins Debut Race
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.”
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