Aaron Slight


Aaron Tony Slight is a New Zealand former professional motorcycle road racer. He competed in the Superbike World Championships from to, finishing second in the championship twice and third four times. He later competed in car racing and now is a television presenter for AA Torque, a motoring show on New Zealand television.

Motorcycle racing career

Born 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. 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. 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 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. On a factory Castrol Honda he was third overall in 1994 and 1995, taking his first Honda win at Albacete. 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.
In 1998 he was second to Carl Fogarty by 5.5 points, 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.
He 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 has 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.
He 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. He raced in the British Touring Car Championship, Stock Car Speed Association and the British GT Championship.
In the 2000 Queen's Birthday Honours, Slight was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to motor sport.

Racing record

Superbike World Championship

Races by year

Complete British Touring Car Championship results

Races in bold indicate pole position Races in italics indicate fastest lap * signifies that driver lead feature race for at least one lap
YearTeamCarClass1234567891011121314151617181920212223242526PosPts
2001Peugeot Sport UKPeugeot 406 CoupéBRH
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†
2002Barwell MotorsportVauxhall Astra CoupéBRH
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		13th32

† Not eligible for points

Complete Porsche Supercup results

YearTeamCar123456789101112DCPoints
2003Porsche AGPorsche 996 GT3ITA1ESPAUTMONGER1FRAGBR
18		GER2HUNITA2USA1USA2NC‡0‡

‡ – Guest driver – Not eligible for points.