Aaron Tony Slight (born 19 January 1966) is a New Zealand former professional
motorcycle
A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...
road racer. He competed in the
Superbike World Championship
Superbike World Championship (also known as WorldSBK, SBK, World Superbike, WSB, or WSBK) is a silhouette road racing series based on heavily modified production sports motorcycles.
The championship was founded in . The Superbike World Champion ...
s from to , finishing second in the championship twice and third four times.
He later competed in
car racing and was a
television presenter
A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces or hosts television show, television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. It is common for people ...
for
AA Torque, a motoring show on New Zealand television.
Motorcycle racing career
Born in
Masterton
Masterton () is a large town in the Wellington Region, Greater Wellington Region of New Zealand that operates as the seat of the Masterton District (a territorial authority or local-government district). It is the largest town in the Wairarapa ...
, New Zealand, Slight was Australian
Superbike
A sports motorcycle, sports bike, or sport bike is a motorcycle designed and optimized for speed, acceleration, braking, and cornering on asphalt concrete race tracks and roads. They are mainly designed for performance at the expense of comfor ...
Champion in 1991, before spending most of the 1990s racing in the
Superbike World Championship
Superbike World Championship (also known as WorldSBK, SBK, World Superbike, WSB, or WSBK) is a silhouette road racing series based on heavily modified production sports motorcycles.
The championship was founded in . The Superbike World Champion ...
, amassing 87 podiums, 13 wins and 8 pole.
For many years he was the only rider to win the
Suzuka 8 Hours
The is a motorcycle endurance race held at the Suzuka Circuit in Japan each year. The race runs for eight hours consecutively, and entrants are composed of two or more riders who alternate during pitstops.
History
The race began in 1978 as a ...
race for three consecutive years, having done so in 1993–1995. This feat has been repeated only recently by multiple Japanese Superbike Champion Katsuyuki Nakasuga in 2015–2018. Although Nakasuga was only declared a winner in 2018 due to being part of the three rider team (with Sam Lowes and Michael Van Der Mark) even though he did not ride in the race due to an injury. Officially Nakasuga is a four-time-in-a-row winner but in reality he has only matched Slight's three time record respectively.
He won his first WSB race during the
1992
1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General.
* January 6
** The Republ ...
season on a
Kawasaki for Team Moving Kawasaki.
On a factory
Castrol
Castrol Limited is a British oil company that markets industrial and automotive lubricants, offering a wide range of oil, greases and similar products for most lubrication applications. The company was originally named CC Wakefield; the nam ...
Honda
commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan.
Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has bee ...
he was third overall in
1994
The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations.
In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...
and
1995
1995 was designated as:
* United Nations Year for Tolerance
* World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War
This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...
, taking his first
Honda
commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan.
Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has bee ...
win at
Albacete
Albacete ( , , ) is a city and municipality in the Spanish autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha, and capital of the province of Albacete.
Lying in the south-east of the Iberian Peninsula, the area around the city is known as Los Llan ...
.
The only real low note was
Laguna Seca
Laguna Seca Raceway (branded as WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and previously Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for sponsorship reasons) is a paved Racing track#Motorsport, road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and Motorcyc ...
in 1995, where a poorly handling Honda and many local wildcards left him 18th on the grid. He was runner-up to
Troy Corser
Troy Gordon Corser (born 27 November 1971) is an Australian former professional motorcycle road racing, road racer. He competed in the Superbike World Championship from 1992 to 2011 except for the 1997 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season, 1997 s ...
in
1996
1996 was designated as:
* International Year for the Eradication of Poverty
Events January
* January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...
, and third again in
1997
Events January
* January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States.
* January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis.
* January 1 ...
as teammate
John Kocinski
John Kocinski (born March 20, 1968, in Little Rock, Arkansas, Little Rock, Arkansas) is a retired Americans, American Grand Prix motorcycle racing, Grand Prix motorcycle road racing, road racer whose successes include winning the 1990 Grand Prix m ...
won the title.
In
1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...
he was second to
Carl Fogarty
Carl George Fogarty (born 1 July 1965), often known as Foggy, is an English former motorcycle racer and one of the most successful Superbike World Championship, World Superbike racers of all time. He also holds the third highest number of rac ...
by 5.5 points (half points having been awarded in the shortened
Laguna Seca
Laguna Seca Raceway (branded as WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and previously Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for sponsorship reasons) is a paved Racing track#Motorsport, road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and Motorcyc ...
race 1), only missing the title due to mishaps such as a last-lap engine failure at
Monza
Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...
, a last-lap incident with back-marker
Jean-Marc Deletang
Jean-Marc is a French masculine given name. It may refer to:
* Jean-Marc Adjovi-Bocco (born 1963), Beninese former football player
* Jean-Marc Ayrault (born 1950), French politician
* Jean-Marc Barr (born 1960), French-American film actor and di ...
at
Philip Island, and missing race 2 at Laguna Seca due to a startline pileup on the aborted attempt to restart the first race. He did however take his first career double victory, at
Misano.
Slight did not win a race in 1999; he crossed the line first in race 1 at
Hockenheimring
The Hockenheimring, officially Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg () is a motor racing circuit situated in the Rhine valley near the town of Hockenheim in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located on the Bertha Benz Memorial Route. Amongst other mot ...
after passing
Carl Fogarty
Carl George Fogarty (born 1 July 1965), often known as Foggy, is an English former motorcycle racer and one of the most successful Superbike World Championship, World Superbike racers of all time. He also holds the third highest number of rac ...
on the last lap, but a red flag had been shown due to an incident elsewhere on the track, so the results were taken a lap back. Ironically, as Fogarty had already clinched the title, he did not need to win the race. Slight missed the start of the season in 2000 and then made his final appearance in the opening round of the 2001 American Superbike Championship at Daytona Speedway.
Car racing career
Slight raced in the
British Touring Car Championship
The British Touring Car Championship (BTCC), officially known as the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship for sponsorship reasons, is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by ...
,
ASCAR Racing Series
ASCAR (Anglo-American Stock Car Racing), was a stock car racing series that raced at circuits around the United Kingdom and Europe from 2001 until 2008. The series went through many guises during its seven year period and was known as the ASCAR M ...
and the
British GT Championship
The British GT Championship is a sports car racing series based predominantly in the United Kingdom. The series was originally created by the British Racing Drivers' Club in 1993 and, for its first two seasons, was known as the National Sports G ...
.
Personal life
In the
2000 Queen's Birthday Honours, Slight was appointed a
Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit
The New Zealand Order of Merit () is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ...
, for services to motor sport.
Racing record
Superbike World Championship
Races by year
(
key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)
Complete British Touring Car Championship results
(
key) Races in bold indicate pole position (1 point awarded all races) Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap (1 point awarded all races)
* signifies that driver lead feature race for at least one lap (1 point awarded)
† Not eligible for points
Complete Porsche Supercup results
(
key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)
‡ – Guest driver – Not eligible for points.
References
External links
Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slight, Aaron
1966 births
Living people
New Zealand motorcycle racers
Superbike World Championship riders
New Zealand racing drivers
British Touring Car Championship drivers
New Zealand television presenters
Sportspeople from Masterton
ASCAR drivers
Porsche Carrera Cup GB drivers
Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit
British GT Championship drivers
Peugeot Sport drivers
New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England