Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Interview: Aaron Slight aron Slight is not your average motorcycle racing hero. Eyen in the World Superbike paddock, where professionalism is not confused with inaccessibility, the New Zealander is " known to be one of the nicest guys around. Always ready and willing to talk to journalists and fans alike, and always happy to have a friendly chat with his mechanics before he retires in his impressive (ex-Doug Polen) motorhome at the end of each practice or racing day, he is a throwback of sorts, a gentleman racer from the past. Still, many things have changed for Slight since he first stepped on European soil in 1992 to his most recent victory in Albacete: It all began for the 29-year-old at the age of 13, when he first tried his hand at The bike turned out to be way off the pace, and information from the private testing session started to get scarce - not a good sign with HRC (or any other racing team, for that matter). But then came Donington Park, where Slight scored a third-place finish in the Honda's World debut. A similar result was notched at the Hockenheimring and, from then on, Slight finished most of the races on the rostrum.. It all added up to third place in the World Championship standings at the end of the season. '1 was very happy with that result," Slight says with a smile. "Especially as we had come from such a long way back at the private tests before the season. We could have won two races in 1994, but the bike just wasn't ready for it yet. It was a good package, and I liked riding racing a Yamaha YZ80 at a local motocross. Four years later he left school, and started working as· a mechanic in a motorcycle shop which sponsored a local road racer. It's not dUficu1t to guess what dir~ction Slight's motorcycle career would veer to from that point onward, and in 1984 he made his asphalt debut on a Yamaha RD250. Several victories later, he decided to ship his bike to Australia, where he would soon be challenging the likes of Michael Doohan and other formidable Aussies. In his first Australian race, Slight finished second behind Mighty Mick...it would be his only loss that season. In 1989 Slight switched colors for the first time, after meeting Kawasaki Australia's Peter Doyle and turning down a very lucrative offer to race in Japan. As a teammate of Rob Phillis, he finished third in his .first Australian Superbike season. The following one was a terrible year for the Kiwi - among other things, he suffered permanent damage to a hand in a crash. But Slight came back strong. In 1991 he won the Australian Superbike Championship, the Pan Pacific Championship, and finished second and third in the World Superbike round at Phillip Island - results that were noticed by the Lucky Strike Suzuki Grand Prix team. No deal 28 was struck, however, and Slight stayed with Kawasaki, setting sail to Europe for an all-out assault on the World Superbike Championship. He made a bang in his European debut, showing everybody the way on a damp track in the opening round at Albacete. At the end of the season, he earned the right to carry the number-six plate and a promotion to the World Superbike elite. But at the end of the 1993 season, the ambitions of t;he hard-charging Kiwi began to conflict with the strategy of team owner Rob Muzzy. Breath-taking duels between Slight and his teammate Scott Russell at the Monza and Donington Park rounds in the closing stages of the season prophesied an end to the collaboration between Kawasaki and Aaron Slight. THIS TOWN AIN'T BIG ENOUGH... it. But it just wasn't not fast enough; it lacked some acceleration and the handling could be a tad better." '1 felt there was no room for the two of us in the Muzzy team," Slight recalls of his decision to switch from Kawasaki to Honda, who were making their comeback into World Superbike racing with their all-new RC45. "Scott (Russell) and 1 were beginning to compete against each other quite hard at the end of the season, when we both had the machinery we wanted. Up until then, I had to make do with an engine prepared the American way, with lots of horsepower but a less usable powerband. Even though I had two good years with Kawasaki, 1wanted to move on. "Scott was definitely not going to change teams, so I thought it was better for my career to look out for something new." The RC4S' was definitely something new. Even though everybody expected Honda to pull the same trick with the RC4S that they had pulled with the RC30 five years before, Slight realized that his first year with the Honda wouldn't be a piece of cake. "Everybody 1 talked to before 1 signed the contract seemed to be convinced that the bike was going to be really good straight off," he says. '1 was more of a realist, and knew about the hard competition." The first pre-season tests seemed to confirm Slight's fears. PROGRESS With a third place and some nearvictories under his belt, everybody expected Honda to iron out the last imperfections the bike had during the winter season, and come back with an unbeatable Ducati-kiIJer in 1995. But their efforts didn't show up in the opening races of the '9S season. Slight scored a typical 6-3 tally in Hockenheim, before something went really wrong in Misano. Would Honda be forced to be happy again with finishing positions behind the Red Brigade of the factory Ducatis? Those doubts Were chased away after the Donington, Monza and especially the Albacete races, where Slight logged the third World Superbike victory of his career. "I think we. were on the pace right from the beginning of the season," he explains. "We are the best of the fourcylinders. But the rules are just wrong. They need changing. Carl Fogarty is not the best rider out there - he is the best rider on a Ducati. At every track we have been to, I've been at least half a second faster than last year. Even at Misano, where 1finished 16th", I was half By Johan Vandekerckhove • Photos by Gold & Goose

• Cover