M4 MPH Racing’s Melissa Paris continued to show signs of progress, registering another promising outing in this past weekend’s MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Championship round at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah.
Paris dropped more than a second off her time from practice to first qualifying, and then slashed her mark by nearly another full second in second qualifying to log the 12th best time of the session at 1:57.769 aboard her Team Hammer Contract Services supported Suzuki GSX-R600.
Paris backed up that performance in the weekend’s twin races, logging a pair of twelfth place finishes. The simple results don’t tell the entire story, however, as Paris continues to close the gap on the timesheets separating her from the next group of riders in front of her.
She said, “I was pumped going in because Miller has always been a good track for me. I have had some nice races there in the past and I had a definite set of goals going in. I was happy on Friday. My mechanic was really on point and we got up to speed quickly. Then we qualified 12th in a good session on Saturday, maybe the best one of the year for us.
“I was pleased with race one on Saturday. I made up one position and held it for most of the race. I made a mistake at the end and ended up finishing 12th. On Sunday, I was trying super hard and went a little backwards from Saturday, but I feel really positive about how things are going. It seems like we keep finishing in the same spots, but we are cutting time to the leaders so I am really positive about that. We’re making progress and sometimes it feels like baby steps but I’m getting closer to the front and going quicker and quicker.”
Paris will look to make further gains when the series picks back up alongside the superstars of the Superbike World Championship at Laguna Seca in Monterey, California, on July 17-19.
