Born in Masterton, New Zealand, Slight won the Australian Superbike Championship in 1991 before moving into the Superbike World Championship. His first WSBK race victory came during the 1992 season, riding for Team Moving Kawasaki.
Slight joined the factory Castrol Honda team and quickly became one of the most consistent performers in the Superbike World Championship through the 1990s. He finished third overall in both 1994 and 1995, taking his first Honda win at Albacete during that period. A notable exception to his 1995 form was Laguna Seca, where a poorly handling Honda and numerous local wildcard entries left him qualifying 18th.
Slight's most outstanding individual achievement during this period was winning the Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race for three consecutive years, from 1993 to 1995. He remained for many years the only rider to achieve three consecutive Suzuka 8 Hours victories.
In 1996, Slight finished runner-up to the newly crowned champion Troy Corser. In 1997 he finished third, with teammate John Kocinski winning the title that year.
The 1998 season was Slight's closest approach to the championship. He ended the year second to Carl Fogarty by just 5.5 points, a margin that half-points at the shortened Laguna Seca Race 1 had contributed to. The season was defined by costly misfortune: a last-lap engine failure at Monza, a last-lap incident with back-marker Jean-Marc Deletang at Philip Island, and being unable to contest Race 2 at Laguna Seca after a startline pile-up on the aborted restart of Race 1. He did, however, take his first career double victory that year at Misano.
In 1999, Slight crossed the line first in Race 1 at Hockenheimring after passing Carl Fogarty on the final lap, but a red flag had been shown for a separate incident earlier in the race, and results were taken from one lap prior — denying him the win. Fogarty, who had already clinched the title, did not require the victory. Slight missed the start of 2000 and made his final appearance in the opening round of the 2001 American Superbike Championship at Daytona Speedway.
After motorcycle racing, Slight competed in the British Touring Car Championship, the ASCAR Racing Series, and the British GT Championship, demonstrating competitive range across disciplines. He also worked as a television presenter for AA Torque, a New Zealand motoring programme.
In the 2000 Queen's Birthday Honours, Slight was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in recognition of his services to motorsport.
Aaron Slight's decade-long campaign in the Superbike World Championship established him as one of the premier riders of his era. His 87 podiums rank him among the most productive WSBK careers without a championship, and his three consecutive Suzuka 8 Hours victories remain a benchmark in endurance motorcycle racing.
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