Kiwi Legends at MotoFest
Alongside British 500 Grand Prix winner Simon Crafar at MotoFest 2019 will be four other New Zealand motorcycle racing Legends - Graeme Crosby, Aaron Slight and Andrew Stroud.
It was in the mid-1970s that Crosby made a name for himself riding a modified road bike against top international riders on specialist racing machines in the Marlboro International Series.
It was a bit like someone taking on the Formula One stars – in a V8 Touring Car.
He did the same in Australia and won a legion of fans across the Tasman. After one stunning performance at Sydney’s Oran Park, the fans were handing him cans of beer as he took part in the victory lap.
It was no different in Japan when he practiced for the first Coca-Cola Suzuka 8-Hour – popping wheelies on the Moriwaki-Kawasaki Z1 down the hill into the Spoon Corner, with photographers three deep to catch the action. It was the same thing in England, the press dubbing Crosby’s riding style “sit up and beg” due to the fact he was riding a modified road bike with a more relaxed riding position than the normal ‘racers’ tuck’. Except he didn’t do any begging: Suzuki had a contract in front of him before the 1979 season was out.
His short international career saw Croz win the Coca-Cola Suzuka 8-Hour, the Daytona Superbike race, the Daytona 200, Imola 200 and the Isle of Man TT, putting him in a club of one.
He also won the World TTF1 Championship twice and finished runner-up in the 1982 World 500 Championship.
Aaron Slight’s route to international success was by way of Japan where he contested the All-Japan F1 Championship in 1988, impressing Kawasaki who signed him to race in Australia.
After finishing runner-up to team-mate Rob Phillis, giving Kawasaki a 1-2 in the 1990 Australian Superbike Championship, Slight took the title in 1991 then went on to racing in the Superbike World Championship where he won the first race of the 1992 season at Albacete in Spain. In 1993 he and American Scott Russell teamed up to win the 1993 Coca-Cola Suzuka 8-Hour in July 1993 – the only time Kawasaki has won the race in the event’s storied 41-year history.
Switching to Honda, Slight won the Suzuka 8-Hour again in 1994, teaming with Texan Doug Polen. The final hour was intense, Slight battling his super determined former team-mate Russell every inch of the way, winning by just 0.288 of a second – the closest finish in the event’s history.
Making it a hat-trick, Slight teamed with Japanese Tadayuki Okada to win the 8-Hour in 1995, making him the first rider to win three in a row at the prestigious race.
Slight can look back on a career that saw him take 87 podiums, 13 race wins and eight pole positions in world championship racing, not to mention his unsurpassed Suzuka 8-Hour results.
One of Slight’s contemporaries is Andrew Stroud. Best known for racing the Britten V1000, the now 51-year-old has raced a wide range of machines in New Zealand and around the world.
Starting out as a 250 Production racer at the same time as Aaron Slight, Simon Crafar and Tony Rees, Stroud managed to stretch his career to 2013 when he finally hung up his helmet. By then he had scored no less than nine New Zealand Superbike Championships.
He began racing in 1986 and won his first national championship in the 250 Production class just two seasons later following a season-long battle with Slight. His career took off from there.
He took a record nine New Zealand Superbike Championships and four Formula One title wins in a row in the popular annual Suzuki Tri Series. On the world stage he contested 41 World Superbike Championship races, 20 World 500 Championship races, four Suzuka 8 Hours, the Isle of Man TT and three 24-hour World Endurance Championship events. His quietlyspoken laid-back demeanour off-track masked a very determined competitor – the results speaking for themselves.
Now he enjoys watching two of his sons following in his footsteps.
You can meet all three Kiwi Legends at MotoFest this weekend.
CREDIT: Words Michael Esdaile/Takeme2 Co Ltd