They were thinking about that.

When I was racing there weren’t just five or six riders that could win. There's a problem loading this menu right now. By the time of the first round at Donington I had a podium. He raced in the British Touring Car Championship, Stock Car Speed Association (ASCAR) and the British GT Championship. I won five races compared to Carl winning three but he won the championship. Coming from the Wairarapa town of Masterton the young Slight took up Moto-cross at age of twelve. [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. That was his personality at the time and he needed to be like that. [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. Michael van der Mark is a Dutch motorcycle racer. Almost at every round I had a problem. He competed in the Superbike World Championships from 1988 to 2000, finishing second in the championship twice and third four times. “To give an example of this in ’99, at the last race for the RC45 we had new crankshafts.

Although the urge to go racing still remained for Slight. His final year riding for Kawasaki would be 1993 before signing for Honda in 1994. At the time, Aaron Slight was a perennial title contender.

[1][2] He later competed in car racing and now is a television presenter for AA Torque, a motoring show on New Zealand television. He competed in the Superbike World Championship from 1992 to 2011 except for the 1997 season when he competed in Grand Prix motorcycle racing.

It was face to face! It wasn’t tweeting. “In 1994 I was racing for Honda with Doug Polen as my teammate. Makoto Tamada (玉田誠) is a former Japanese professional motorcycle racer currently working as a rider instructor in Suzuka Racing School. Officially Nakasuga is a four-time-in-a-row winner but in reality he has only matched Slight's three time record respectively. We put it on the dyno and our twin had the same horsepower but 30 percent more torque. He later competed in car racing and now is a television presenter for AA Torque, a motoring show on New Zealand television. Aaron Slight: Misano was a real highpoint for me because we changed in ’95 from Dunlop to Michelin and I finished outside the points in both races. That bike didn’t steer so I adjusted my riding style. There’s a lot of four and a half points I missed out!”, Retro Racing: Top 10 Riders never to be World Champion, Paddock Pass Podcast: Episode 137 - The Fabio Quartararo Show. Preparing for Portimão: Mike Talks Tyres, Tarmac, Set-Up and Simulations! Eddie Lawson is an American former four-time Grand Prix motorcycle racing World Champion. He won his first WSB race during the 1992 season on a Kawasaki for Team Moving Kawasaki. Complete British Touring Car Championship results, "Queen's Birthday honours list 2000 (including special list for East Timor)", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aaron_Slight&oldid=977784009, Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit, Use New Zealand English from September 2014, All Wikipedia articles written in New Zealand English, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 10 September 2020, at 23:40. With a four-cylinder bike you had to change everything. 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. It made it even better. He would spend much of that year recovering from a very badly injured hand.

Then you’re at Phillip Island and Brands where Shakey turns up and beats you! Winning a championship would have capped it off but I’m not going to get into my grave wishing I had won it. With any bike when you get horsepower you get loads of other problems.

It was a three-day test and I rode it for an afternoon. See all formats and editions Hide other formats and editions.

He returned to MotoGP for 2007, but retired by the end of the season. If you pinpointed something they would make it.

“I don’t regret anything. A different swingarm? Complete British Touring Car Championship results, "Queen's Birthday honours list 2000 (including special list for East Timor)". 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. The toughest thing was probably what was said between the riders. He currently races in the MotoE World Cup, aboard an Energica Ego Corsa. My decision was made for me [being replaced by Honda in 2001 having overcome a brain injury] in a way it and was a compulsory way of retiring. Racing never lasts forever, but the legacy of Slight certainly lives on. I had a few offs in the car but with a bike you can’t do that. At the time Slight felt at a disadvantage but it wasn’t until Honda developed a new bike, the fabled VTR1000, that it suddenly came clear to what extent they were hampered.

Haga was a top contender in the Superbike World Championship, finishing as runner-up three times, and has finished third in the championship series four times. Back then it wasn’t typing it out on a keypad. Aaron Tony Slight, MNZM (* 19. Finishing that way was sour at the time. Aaron Tony Slight MNZM (born 19 January 1966) is a New Zealand former professional motorcycle road racer. Then you just go back out and go again. IndyCar's GP of St. Petersburg preview – schedule, facts. We chatted. Joshua Frederick Hook is a motorcycle racer from Australia. In 1991 still riding with Kawasaki Australia, he would continue to race in Australia, Asia and New Zealand before being signed to race the World Superbike Championship for the Official Kawasaki factory team where he would win his first World Championship Superbike race in Spain in 1992. He raced in the British Touring Car Championship, Stock Car Speed Association (ASCAR) and the British GT Championship. Join Facebook to connect with Aaron Slight and others you may know. I rode one of Mick’s [Doohan] bikes down at Phillip Island in ‘95. Required fields are marked *. Alexandre Barros is a former Brazilian motorcycle road racer. You could have ten riders capable of winning races because you had wildcards too. Ducati? Officially Nakasuga is a four-time-in-a-row winner but in reality he has only matched Slight's three time record respectively.

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. In car racing you go flat out until you go over the edge and put it in the fence. He holds the distinction of being the only person to have won the Daytona 200, the Imola 200, the Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race, and the Isle of Man TT. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.

He tried racing in the United States, but eventually it would be a switch to car racing that he would try to scratch his itch. He won his first WSB race during the 1992 season on a Kawasaki for Team Moving Kawasaki. Doug was four seconds off. I’d have jumped on the Grand Prix bike but I went to Superbikes and it made me rich. Team-Motorcycle Honda VTR1000 SP. How do you judge success? Ironically, as Fogarty had already clinched the title, he did not need to win the race. Grand Prix was always the pinnacle, but there were riders far more willing to go to WorldSBK to make a living. Then you go to Laguna and the Americans would be going quick. How was that fair?”. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

I don’t know if would have made the call otherwise. The first test for Slight on the RC45 in the off-season before the 1994 season must have given him second thoughts about his move.

[6], In the 2000 Queen's Birthday Honours, Slight was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to motor sport. [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. We had six different ratios for every gear and primary drives.

Unreliability held him back that year but he has no regrets about how his career unfolded. How real is the Honda MotoGP threat at Aragon? He has a younger brother, David Checa, also a motorcycle racer who competed in the Superbike World Championship for 2008. Every race something happened. If you pinpointed something they would make it. Honda moved it along quickly. With a four-cylinder bike you had to change everything. You can’t be a c**t half your life and expect everyone to get on great.

I was thinking, ‘This is the last race for the bike.’ I’m sure that was part of the development for the V5 MotoGP. We’d do everything with the gearbox. Sign up to the Racing Lowdown Newsletter. Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations, Select the department you want to search in. Wataru Yoshikawa is a Japanese motorcycle rider. Your email address will not be published. He needed to piss everyone off to get fired up.”. Aaron only competed from round seven and however would still finish his final year in the World Championship in 8th place. by Steve English | Mar 25, 2020 | Interviews, Latest News, Retro Racing, WorldSBK | 0 comments. In 1988 he left New Zealand to race with the Super Angel Team in Japan with little success. Aaron competed in 229 World Superbike races and has stood on the World Superbike podium 87 times. “When I was racing there weren’t just five or six riders that could win. Anthony Gobert is a former professional motorcycle road racer, nicknamed The Go Show. [6], In the 2000 Queen's Birthday Honours, Slight was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to motor sport. The following year (1990) saw Aaron have a serious crash in Japan which almost curtailed his career. They’d just change the rear sprocket. Five wins in 1998 offered Slight’s best chance of finally ending his championship voodoo but ultimately he came up just short. There are no consequences compared to bikes.