Aaron Tony Slight MNZM (born 19 January 1966) is a New Zealand former professional motorcycle road racer. He competed in the Superbike World Championships from 1988 to 2000, finishing second in the championship twice and third four times.[1][2] He later competed in car racing and was a television presenter for AA Torque, a motoring show on New Zealand television.
| Aaron Slight | |||||||||||||||||||||
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 Aaron Slight in 1993 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality |  New Zealander | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 19 January 1966 Masterton, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Motorcycle racing career
editBorn in Masterton, New Zealand, Slight was Australian Superbike Champion in 1991, before spending most of the 1990s racing in the Superbike World Championship, amassing 87 podiums, 13 wins and 8 pole.[1] For many years he was the only rider to win the Suzuka 8 Hours race for three consecutive years, having done so in 1993–1995.[3][4][5] 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 season on a Kawasaki for Team Moving Kawasaki.[1] On a factory Castrol Honda he was third overall in 1994 and 1995, taking his first Honda win at Albacete.[1] The only real low note was Laguna Seca in 1995, where a poorly handling Honda and many local wildcards left him 18th on the grid. He was runner-up to Troy Corser in 1996, and third again in 1997 as teammate John Kocinski won the title.[1]
In 1998 he was second to Carl Fogarty by 5.5 points (half points having been awarded in the shortened Laguna Seca race 1), only missing the title due to mishaps such as a last-lap engine failure at Monza, a last-lap incident with back-marker Jean-Marc Deletang 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.[1]
Slight did not win a race in 1999; he crossed the line first in race 1 at Hockenheimring after passing Carl Fogarty 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
editSlight raced in the British Touring Car Championship, ASCAR Racing Series and the British GT Championship.[6]
Personal life
editIn the 2000 Queen's Birthday Honours, Slight was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to motor sport.[7]
Racing record
editSuperbike World Championship
editRaces by year
edit(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete British Touring Car Championship results
edit(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)
| Year | Team | Car | Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | Pos | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Peugeot Sport UK | Peugeot 406 Coupé | T | BRH 1 |
BRH 2 |
THR 1 |
THR 2 |
OUL 1 |
OUL 2 |
SIL 1 |
SIL 2 |
MON 1 |
MON 2 |
DON 1 7 |
DON 2 Ret* |
KNO 1 |
KNO 2 |
SNE 1 |
SNE 2 |
CRO 1 |
CRO 2 |
OUL 1 |
OUL 2 |
SIL 1 |
SIL 2 |
DON 1 |
DON 2 |
BRH 1 |
BRH 2 |
NC† | 0† |
| 2002 | Barwell Motorsport | Vauxhall Astra Coupé | T | BRH 1 9 |
BRH 2 12 |
OUL 1 6 |
OUL 2 8 |
THR 1 7 |
THR 2 DNS |
SIL 1 10 |
SIL 2 Ret |
MON 1 DNS |
MON 2 8 |
CRO 1 7 |
CRO 2 10 |
SNE 1 12 |
SNE 2 9 |
KNO 1 Ret |
KNO 2 12 |
BRH 1 Ret |
BRH 2 9 |
DON 1 Ret |
DON 2 Ret |
13th | 32 |
† Not eligible for points
Complete Porsche Supercup results
edit(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Porsche AG | Porsche 996 GT3 | ITA1 | ESP | AUT | MON | GER1 | FRA | GBR 18 |
GER2 | HUN | ITA2 | USA1 | USA2 | NC‡ | 0‡ |
‡ – Guest driver – Not eligible for points.
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g "Aaron Slight WSBK career statistics". worldsbk.com. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
- ^ Jessup, Peter. "A Slight change of direction". nzherald.co.nz. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
- ^ "1993 Suzuka 8 Hours results". motoracing-japan.com. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
- ^ "1994 Suzuka 8 Hours results". motoracing-japan.com. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
- ^ "1995 Suzuka 8 Hours results". motoracing-japan.com. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
- ^ www.mcnews.com.au Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Queen's Birthday honours list 2000 (including special list for East Timor)". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 5 June 2000. Retrieved 4 July 2020.