Sunday, March 1, 2015

Clipsal 500 V8 Supercar Broadcast Report Card




A new season brings with it a new broadcast agreement with Fox Sports and the Ten Network, which means a shuffle of commentators, experts and hosts between the two networks. Here’s my Clipsal 500 coverage report card:

A Grade

Neil Crompton. About the best motorsport voice there is in Australia. Everything Crompton does, he does it well, and has the brilliant ability to make sense of even the most technical issues. The pit walk – a concept borrowed from NASCAR, Formula One and IndyCar – is a great idea, and he’s given plenty of time to roam the grid. No one seems to want to not talk to Crompton.

Pairing him alongside the even-keeled Greg Rust was a brilliant move, even though Crompton could easily have been the play-by-play guy, and work alongside an analyst, as he did alongside Mark Skaife last year on Channel Seven, after Matt White departed. Crompton is the Gold Standard of motorsports broadcasting in Australia, and there’s no one who looks even remotely close to tipping him from that perch.

Chad Neylon. A newcomer to V8SC television, the West Australian broadcaster has a tough job, broadcasting so many of the support categories – Australian GT, V8 Utes, Porsche Carrera Cup, amongst others – and is a rising broadcasting star, who may well be the voice of V8 Supercars in years to come.

Switching from one series to the next isn’t easy, but Neylon does it brilliantly. Manages to convey the excitement of a given moment without screaming at viewers, and knows when to tone things down, too. Another thing that impressed me was his ability to recall specific moments, not just in V8s, but around the world. The guy does his homework. He’s great!

Greg Rust. Returns to V8 Supercar commentary after remaining with Ten when the series headed to Seven, and reunited with Neil Crompton, Rust is well at home. You can tell he and Crompton are friends, and have a long broadcasting history together.

Rust deserves his gig as chief play-by-play man. He never talks over Crompton (or vice versa), and has that remarkable ability to be quiet and let the pictures, and the wonderful sound of a full-bore V8 engine, do the talking. Forming a nice partnership with Greg Murphy on the Dunlop Series, too.

Russell Ingall. The Enforcer steps from out of the cockpit and into the TV booth for Foxtel, and has immediately impressed. Not afraid to call a spade a spade, and has a great sense of humour. Rusty is going to be a hit. A nice contrast to Mark Skaife, and a guy who’s only going to get better as he gets more practice. Great hire by Foxtel.

Mark Larkham. Why the man known as Larko wasn't picked up to work the pit lane for race broadcasts is beyond me. Like Crompton, he can make the complicated facets of the sport seem damn simple when he explains them. Clearly, the guy loves the sport. You can hear it every time he speaks. He should have a bigger role than that as ancillary pit reporter for Channel Ten. 

B Grade

Greg Murphy. The always-controversial Kiwi is no Mark Larkham, who he basically replaced on pit lane this year, but he has the makings of a decent broadcaster. I like the way Rust and Crompton throw to him during the broadcast to do some analysis of the racing from pit lane. Given that he’s only a few months removed from driving in the endurance events, his knowledge of these new cars is something that even Crompton can’t match.

The Davison brothers: brilliant broadcasting of the Carrera Cup and GT races. Will and Alex both have bright futures in commentary once their driving careers are done and dusted. Easy to listen to, knowledgeable and personable. Pretty much the holy trinity of broadcasting.

C Grade

Matt Naulty. Another rising broadcaster who does a solid if unspectacular job calling the Stadium Super Trucks and Touring Car Masters.

Mark Webber. A decent broadcaster who probably needs to talk just a touch slower. It’s hard for him to give any huge insight into V8 racing, considering he’s never raced one in his life. He’s there as name recognition for Channel Ten.

Mark Skaife. Whereas his partner Ingall isn’t afraid to call a driver or the series out, Skaife seems to forget that he is paid by Foxtel not by V8 Supercars. I can’t ever recall him having a bad word to say about the series, even when one was warranted. If he can morph into a talking head who doesn’t mind criticising the sport’s leaders when criticism is due, and can toss out some of his overused clichés – “this is wild!” – he’ll be okay.

Jess Yates: The former SPEED host gets her reward for years of studio toiling, and now presents Foxtel’s coverage from the track. Not at all bad, but fairly unremarkable compared to Skaife and Ingall. The anchor position is a tough job, and often a thankless one, when you’re deferring to experts or other commentators. Still, a solid talent.

D Grade

Matt White. Never been a huge fan of White’s. He runs the studio for Channel Ten after years calling races on Channel Seven. Seems to be a walking cliché/hyperbole machine. I never understood why networks covet him like they apparently do.

Chris Stubbs. For a guy who is apparently Foxtel’s motorsports insider, he didn’t break many stories. One thing is for certain, Stubbs, a decent broadcaster, is no Robin Miller. I guess the veteran IndyCar scribe/TV presenter is who Foxtel modelled Stubbs’ position on? If so, it wasn't even close. Stubbs seemed to be little more than a glorified Foxtel-only pit reporter, a path that’s been well trodden by Murphy and Crehan on the V8TV coverage. At first glance, he’s superfluous to Foxtel’s needs.

Mark Howard: A Channel Ten stalwart, does some reporting from the pit lane between races. A solid broadcaster, who isn’t given much time to shine either side of the main race coverage.

Riana Crehan. Not who I would’ve chosen as the second race coverage pit reporter to work alongside Murphy. I understand that the sport likes to involve females in their coverage, but should a woman be given a position ahead of a more qualified former driver like, say, Mark Larkham?

Not a knock on her talent at all, but a positioning issue here. Surely Crehan could’ve been given another job – perhaps a reporter, like Kylie King – to allow Larkham and Murphy to roam pit road? You need your experts in such a crucial place as the pits, and Crehan seems a little out of place, particularly when the talk turns very technical. Kudos for getting interviews out of drivers who clearly don’t want to talk. That’s a feat that takes persistence.

F Grade

Greg Martin. The former Australian rugby union representative (and, apparently, a V8 tragic) seems to have been cast as the resident moron – or, the motorsport outsider, as he is apparently known – and spent his weekend roaming the spectator areas, shooting grabs at the merchandise tent, with grid girls, riding on a motorcycle course designed for kids, and generally making a fool of himself. As far as cringe-worthy goes, Martin’s spots were way off the charts.

The sad thing is that Martin is a pretty good rugby commentator. Whoever decided that he would be best let loose on the Clipsal paddock to make himself look like a complete idiot needs to be removed from their job. It wasn't funny – it was embarrassing. Send Marto back to the rugby. At least he’s doing something worthwhile there.

Hopefully Foxtel will review their first weekend of coverage and realise they don’t need buffoons to deliver a good weekend of racing. V8 fans aren’t fools. I wonder how many cringed like I did every time Martin was shown, or, afterward, when Skaife, Ingall and Yates were forced to awkwardly laugh at his antics. Sheer embarrassment.

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