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Hoping to be back on the
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| www.melissaparis.com/
Profile
Likes: roadracing, cycling, motocross,
supermoto
Unlike most road racers, Melissa Paris doesn't
have motorcycle racing in her blood. Growing up
with four older brothers she naturally was a bit of
a tom-boy. You'd think she might have picked up her
love for riding motorcycles from one of her older
brothers, but other than one ill-fated day of
riding around on a mini-bike with no brakes that
her Dad had bartered for, her childhood was ?lled
with much more traditional sports. She played
baseball from the age of 5 until 14 on a boys team,
as well as some other sports including swimming,
water polo, track, and even a brief foray into BMX
racing.
It wasn't until her freshman year at SDSU that
Melissa was introduced to motorcycles. After many
spirited rides on the back of a friends' sportbike
in the canyons of San Diego she was hooked. At the
age of 20, with the help of a student loan she soon
had a Yamaha FZR-600 and a set of leathers.
Less than a year after throwing her leg over a
motorcycle for the ?rst time, she entered her ?rst
race at the Streets of Willow Springs. Although she
started well past the mid-point of the season she
turned expert in time for 2005. On the advice of
more experienced friends Melissa sold the 600 and
bought a 1998 RS125 for her ?rst expert season. She
rode the GP bike to several WSMC podiums.
When away from the race track Melissa can be
found training on her road bicycle, at the pool
swimming, or riding supermoto. She also has a love
for working on her own bikes, a skill born out of
necessity in herfirst years of racing.
Snippets
News
What
Goes Down, Must Come Up
Well, just as I imagined,
sitting out the race at Barber Motorsports Park was
torture. The last time I missed a race I meant to
take part in I was at least on crutches with
various titanium pieces and numerous staples
holding my leg together. Being in perfect health
with all of your equipment there at the race track
while you play tourist is a whole other ball of
wax.
As I mentioned in my last
blog, the reason for missing Barber and Mid-Ohio
has to do with my quickly dwindling budget. To say
I’ve tripped over a few hurdles this season
would be an understatement. A lot of people have
been asking about what’s going on and the
truth is, its a lot of things all tangled together.
It would be nice to heap all the blame somewhere
but that would take too much energy away from
finding a solution. The truth is that the amount of
luck it has taken for me to have gotten the
experiences I’ve had at this point is
unbelievable. There have been so many times when I
thought I’d never figure out how to find the
money to go racing, only to have it work out at the
eleventh hour; its kind of inevitable that at some
point this would happen.
That all being said, the
amount of support I received from all of my
friends, family, fans and sponsors after announcing
my situation has been unbelievable. I’ve
struggled more racing this year than I ever have.
At times it felt like the more I put into it and
the harder I worked, the worse things got.
It’s been one of the most frustrating things
I’ve ever dealt with. So, in the midst of all
of that to get the overwhelming support of everyone
was so amazing and humbling.
So I guess where I’m
going with this rambling blog is that I just really
want to say thank you to everyone who donated,
bought a t-shirt, sent an email or said a prayer
for me. It’s meant the world to me. It made
watching everyone else race at Barber a tiny bit
more bearable. It made me even more grateful for
the opportunity I had to to test at NOLA. And its
giving me even more motivation to get my program
sorted out to be back on the track in old form at
Laguna Seca.
Oh… did I mention
that I have t-shirts for sale? (nudge, nudge. wink,
wink. )
Source: melissaparis.com/2012/06/29/what-goes-down-must-come-up/
Out
for Barber & Mid-Ohio
It’s been quite a while since I’ve
updated my blog, and I definitely hate to do it for
such a disappointing reason but here it goes
anyway.
I will not be racing at the next two AMA Pro
Racing rounds, at Barber Motorsports Park and
Mid-Ohio. As has been the case with many others in
our paddock, my budget has been very tight this
year. I made some decisions earlier in the year
that unfortunately did not work out as I had hoped
they might, which leaves me in a spot where I do
not have enough funding to finish the season.
As a racer, it’s a really difficult
decision to make, but after speaking with a few
people whose opinions I trust most, I realize the
smart thing to do is to regroup and focus on coming
back strong at Laguna Seca. It’s torture to
sit on the sidelines, but it would be even worse to
attempt to race without all the proper pieces in
place.
We will work hard to have our equipment sorted
out and hopefully more funding in place as we move
towards the Laguna Seca round of the AMA Pro Racing
Daytona Sportbike Championship. We continue to have
t-shirts for sale on my website at
www.melissaparis.com/products . All sales
contribute directly towards our race efforts.
Further, anyone interested in partnering with MPH
Racing can send inquiries to mphracing13@gmail.com
or click on the “Get Involved” link at
www.melissaparis.com
I really want to thank Yamaha, Yamalube, GYTR,
Joe Rocket, MotionPro, LeoVince, Vesrah,
DrippinWet, WIDSIX, Freegun, GB Racing, Braking,
Zero Gravity and all of my amazing friends and fans
for the support so far this year. I look forward to
being back on track as soon as possible.
Source: melissaparis.com/2012/06/21/season-update-out-for-barber-mid-ohio/
Results
After moving to the East Coast in 2006 she
secured her ?rst 125GP win at Roebling Road and
began making the transition back to the
middleweight classes.
2007 saw Melissa competing in the WERA
National Challenge Series and WERA National
Endurance Series where she co-rode to several wins
and even more podiums. She also made a few USGPRU
appearances on the Celtic Racing 125, taking a
third place during the AMA Superbike event at
Miller Motorsports Park.
For 2008 Melissa decided to compete in
the hotly contested USGPRU 250GP class aboard a
2000 Honda RS250. Despite some growing pains with
the new machine and a little bad luck she still
walked away with two pole positions, a win, and a
third place finish to secure fifth in the National
Championship. In addition, she was the winner in a
battle royale at Daytona International Speedway for
the CCS Lightweight GP National Championship.
2009 saw Melissa pulling double duty on
an R6 and her RS250. She became the highest placing
female finisher in her first pro race, the Daytona
200 with a 21st place finish. Later in the year,
she became the first female to qualify for a World
Supersport Championship race. Meanwhile she was
also fighting for the USGPRU National Championship.
With two races to go, and one point out of the
lead, she suffered a broken tibia and fibula. Two
weeks later, she raced in attempt to salvage points
and keep a chance in the championship.
Unfortunately she crashed out at the finale and had
to settle for second in the championship.
For 2010 Melissa focussed on riding the
AMA Daytona Sportbike Series. Although her season
was plagued with injury, she had her best finish in
a Daytona Sportbike race, with 15th at Infineon
Raceway. Once again she qualified and raced in the
World Supersport Championship race at Miller
Motorsports Park.
2011 saw Melissa again competing in
Daytona Sportbike. In an effort to get more seat
time, she also did several WERA West events, and
despite missing several races finished 2nd in the B
Superbike class. She also was invited to compete in
a British Supersport Championship race at Brands
Hatch as well as test the Tech 3 Yamaha M1 MotoGP
bike in Valencia Spain.
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