Steve Hislop
| Steve Hislop | |||||||||||||
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Steve Hislop in 1993
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| Nationality | Scottish | ||||||||||||
| Born |
11 January 1962 Hawick |
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| Died | 30 July 2003 (aged 41) Teviothead |
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Robert Steven 'Hizzy' Hislop (11 January 1962 – 30 July 2003) was a Scottish motorcycle racer. Hislop won at the Isle of Man TT eleven times, won the British 250cc Championship (1990) and British Superbike championship (1995 and 2002).
Hislop died when piloting his small, Robinson R44 helicopter in July 2003. He was inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame in March 2010.
Hislop was born into a close, Scottish Borders family. He grew up in the village of Chesters near the town of Hawick with his father Sandy, mother Margaret and best friend and younger brother Garry. Their father inspired the boys to be enthusiastic about competitive motorcycling and take up racing. However, when Garry was killed in a racing accident at Silloth circuit in 1982 aged 19, Hislop's enthusiasm waned and he slumped into an alcohol fuelled depression [the death of his father three years earlier from a heart attack may also have contributed].
Hislop recovered and began his Isle of Man road racing career in 1983 by finishing second in the newcomers' race at the Manx Grand Prix, the year after Garry won it. On short circuits, his first championship success came when he won the 250cc British Championship in 1990. Superbike victory followed with the British Superbike Championship in 1995. Some attributed his success to James Whitham leaving the series mid-season to deal with cancer [Whitham was behind in the championship prior to his illness]. Although he did not take a BSB victory in 1996 or 1997, Hislop was hired by Rob McElnea's dominant Cadbury's Boost Yamaha team for 1998 [to the surprise of commentators and journalists, most notably BBC pundit Barry Nutley]. The nature of the fight for the championship between Hislop & team mate Mackenzie was illustrated by a near-collision on the last lap at Snetterton which cost the team a 1–2 finish. Hislop generally matched his countryman before an injurious crash took him out of title contention. His last championship success came in 2002 when he won the British Superbike Championship riding a Ducati. A notable feature of his season resulted from Hislop lapping Donington Park circuit more quickly on a superbike than the fastest Moto GP machine: Hislop's modified production Ducati was heavier and less powerful than the bespoke Grand Prix bikes.
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