This is an alleged Email from Aaron Slight that went out to his Kiwi fan club. Even if it is bunk, it's interesting reading. --Dean Adams

13 10 98
A personal note from Aaron
(An expanded version of this will go into the next newsletter - apologies
for any double-up but I know email members want to hear from me now.)

I want to grab an early chance to say a deep and sincere thanks from Megan
and myself for all your support this year.

I get emails and other messages on the run and sometimes it's a while
between stops to catch up with them, so I don't always make a good job of
keeping in touch.

Now I'm stopping over in NZ it doesn't seem any better: TV and media
appearances, sponsors and all that means there's not much time to touch
base with my family and a few old friends.

But anyway thanks for everything this year guys. Sorry I didn't quite
deliver the goods, believe me I was trying. I've never had a year so tough,
in terms of bad breaks. I know I'm riding better and that's good enough to
win this championship, but '98 wasn't to be the year.
I'm already starting to focus on '99 to make sure it is.
As I've been saying: I don't need good luck, I just need a bit less bad
luck.

Really the title was won and lost before Sugo. It's a bit sad that turned
out to be the decider, I know I looked pathetic there.

We have commented to an email member today that it's all down to setup.
Seems incredible, but such is the role of suspension, steering and tyres. I
can tell you now that was the most powerful engine Honda has ever put in a
motorcycle (more grunt than the GP bikes) specially released early for Sugo
to take the title.

I just couldn't put power to the ground. It wouldn't turn in to the corner,
then it just lit up the back end coming out.
Remember this: Sugo is owned by Yamaha and the other two Japanese brands
test there. Honda don't. You can't test there in winter, it's snowing. And
during the season superbike teams are not allowed to test at WSB circuits
unless it's their designated test track - Sugo is for the other three,
Suzuka is for Honda.

There's diddly-squat time for setup when you get to the circuit - nowadays
it's just one hour free practice on Friday morning before qualifying that
afternoon; second qual Saturday morning and Superpole in the afternoon. So
you have to have the bike largely organised before you roll it out of the
transporter.

Result: woe when we get to Sugo. It all turns to muck when the championship
decider comes down to that track. Of course Sugo was not going to be the
final round this year - Malaysia was but that was canned.

The bad news is that in the preliminary calendar now being considered for
99, Sugo is proposed as the last event again. I need to make sure I have
the championship in the bag before then.

(If you're superstitious you might take consolation from this - since I've
been with Honda, each second year the title goes to the wire: 94 for Carl,
96 Troy and now 98. Meanwhile in 95 Carl ran away with it before the final
round, as did Kocinski in 97. So that's me in 99.)

A lot of people have been asking about the Hodgson incident. You've
probably heard by now that I was upset about his dishonesty, not
specifically his riding. I knew before the event I'd be coming through real
quick (that was my best shot at the title, from tenth on the grid). So I
asked Hodgson if he'd let me through when I showed him a wheel. The turkey
said yes. If he'd said no, well OK I'd know I had to go around. But three
times I went to go up the inside and he shut the door on me. The fourth
time we banged fairings and I was in the grass at the hairpin. I'd already
wasted ten laps and most of my rear tyre. So there went the race and the
title.

Sure I was agitated - it's just as well TV didn't catch the bit before we
were shoving chests. I'm afraid the little bit of assistance I provided
Neil to dismount his motorcycle was rather impolite and not particularly
friendly.

Pommie prat. You don't win WSB races, and certainly not titles, by
scratching around with every quicker rider who comes through as if you're
defending the lead in a sprint race. But he'll never know that, he's had
his contract terminated midway and hasn't got a ride next year. His team
manger told me after the race that if Hodgson had shown as much pluck
earlier in the season as he did then, maybe he'd still have a job.
The fact is I didn't lose the championship at Sugo - the damage was done
earlier in the season.

But enough of that. I've given up analysing the title that went poof in my
hands like a squeezed meringue. I have a busy schedule before the end of
1998, then it's into my title year.

You may have heard I have another ride shortly. On 1 November we're back at
Sugo (yuk!) for the final round of the Japanese national champs. The
Japanese are keen to get a crowd so Mick Doohan, Alex Criville, Tadi Okada
(my 8-hour partner) and I have been drafted in. We're all on RC45s. Now you
can read as much as you want into that, with the suggestion that GPs will
be four-stroke before long. For my extended thoughts, read my column in
next month's Kiwi Rider which I'm working on now.

Just don't expect any of us to be going too hard - why prang yourself up at
the end of the season in an unimportant race. Of course that's easy to say,
once we get out there the old competitive edge comes in and things start to
happen. But it's still a better circuit for the other bikes and for Mick
and Alex the RC45 is very unfamiliar.

I must say Mick has worked real hard for his magnificent achievement of a
fifth straight GP title. I train with him most days in Monaco and believe
me nobody wanted it more. He deserves it, I'm just sad we couldn't give
Honda the double.

There's a lot of rubbish talked about GP vs world supers, especially back
here in NZ. That's what I'm tackling in my Kiwi Rider column.
It will be strange to be without Colin Edwards at Sugo - for me he's the
perfect teammate. After the collection of oddbods I've endured, it's a
pleasure for all the theatrics and morose mooning about to just disappear.
Colin and I swap setup info and all that, and there's no tension between us
even on race days. Anyway, I know I can beat him and occasionally he beats
me just to show it's not going to be too easy. It probably helped that we
were friends before he came to Castrol Honda, and our wives get on well.
Colin and I have a little joke. We both started racing at the same time, 20
years ago. Admittedly he was only four at the time while I was 12. But I
reckon it means I'll retire when he does.

Colin of course had Aucklander Adrian Gorst as his chief technician
(mechanic) this year. Adrian had been with me since before we came to
Honda, so it was good for Colin to gain all that experience. And it was
good for Adrian and I to have a fresh start in new combinations - we remain
good friends (except on raceday). Another Aucklander stepped in for me -
Norris Farrow has worked wonders this year and I'm delighted he's staying
for our title year in 99.

Will I retire then? I'm getting a bit tired of the media trying to retire
me. Let's get this straight. I currently have no plans at all to finish
racing. I've given the matter no thought. I'll keep going as long as the
motivation is there, as long as I have a ride, as long as I can keep up the
pace. Right at the moment I've signed for one more year with Honda (to the
WSB team again sponsored by Castrol) and apparently some media have assumed
that means I'm out at the end of 99. Well I've only ever signed for one
year with Honda, that's how we do it. Sure, if it came about that I had to
rethink things, for whatever reason, this year or next year or whenever,
then so be it. But I'm here to stay - so watch out Ducati!

People ask why I stick with the Honda which seems to be outgunned. Well it
is outgunned, more than you realise. But the Japanese are determined to
save face. Rather than fight for the rules to be squared up between the
one-litre Duke and our three-quarter, they accept the challenge and keep
pushing, as is the Japanese way. From my point of view there's more to
racing than the fastest bike ... I want to be in a happy team and enjoy my
job, with the feeling that we are gradually improving in our struggle
against the odds. I believe I have the great fortune to be with the best
team in supers, probably in any form of bike racing. I truly believe I have
the best job in the world.

So what will I be riding in year 2000? Well assuming I'm still on a world
supers Honda, it could be anything. The RC45 is due to be retired at the
end of 99 (it was originally homologated for five years, ending now, and
Honda got a one-year extension) and obviously it will be replaced with
another roadbike-based racer. Another V4 750? A one-litre twin? An in-line
four? I can't say - simply because no decision has been made. I'll be doing
some riding over the off-season, and maybe as a result of that ...........

Some off-season this turns out to be. I fly out shortly and after a brief
drop in to my Monaco home I'm off to Britain where I'll be helping BSkyB
with the London-based commentary on the final GP race. Immediatey I have to
scoot to Sugo, hopefully arriving in time for a bit of practice before the
All-Japan race.

While in Japan I'll be doing our usual end-of-season testing at Suzuka,
before zapping back to the UK for a motor show. Then Castrol has us at the
RAC Rally and there's time for another British show before the end of
November.

I hope to get a short break after that, back in Monaco, but then I'm headed
into south-east Asia for shows at Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
Oh, and somewhere in there is a photo shoot for Sidi boots.
The bottom line is that I hope to be back in NZ for Christmas with my
family.

Although the other side of Christmas is just as frantic, I'll be making
time to catch up with club members before the new season. I know you'll be
hearing details of that.

By that time we will be able to tell you a lot more about 1999. So far we
know the championship will be sponsored by Coca-Cola, a sign of the
fast-accelerating growth of supers. And there'll be a new starting
procedure: you must remain stationary till the green light comes on.

That'll be safer and fairer.
Well I reckon the internet people will cut us off if we make this much
longer. I'm going looking for a bit of relaxation. Thanks again for all
your support and I'll see you in our big year 99.

Aaron
Oh, PS. Everyone wants to know and some people will say this is the most
important of all, what number in 99? It's too early to comment in public
but I'm applying to keep #111. Ciao!