Melissa Paris To Team Stratos For 2014

Andrea Wilson | January 14, 2014

Melissa Paris to race CEV Superstock 600 series for Team Stratos in 2014.

While it was already known that Melissa Paris’ 2014 racing plans were going to include the 2014 Spanish CEV Championship, those plans were finally made official today: Paris will be competing in the CEV Superstock 600 class aboard a Kawasaki ZX6-R for Team Stratos.

Part of what made the move to the Spanish series possible was being one of eight women selected as a part of the Women’s Sports Foundation’s Women in the Winner’s Circle Project Podium Grant Class of 2014. A project founded by former Indy car racer Lyn St. James, the former president of the Women’s Sports Foundation, the grants are a way to helping women achieve greater success in motorsports.

The CEV Series boasts a seven-round schedule (eight for the moto3 class), one of which will be outside of Spain at Le Mans in France. It is a championship seen by many as a great feeder series for the World Championship and starting in 2014 it will be run under the direction of the FIM.

“I am so excited for this new adventure,” Paris said in a team release. “Racing in the Spanish Championship will be a great opportunity to raise my level. I feel very blessed to be riding for a team with a history of so much success.”

For the most part it will mean a host of new tracks to learn, but Paris has already had some time at Albacete during last year’s FIM Women’s Roadrace Training Camp and some brief time at Valencia aboard the Tech 3 MotoGP bike at the end-of-year test in 2011.

As of yet, her AMA racing plans are still being worked on.