Aaron Noonan is the newest television host of the Australian Superbike Championship on Channel Seven and FOX SPORTS. Image: Peter Bury.

A mid-season switch to FOXTEL’s FOX SPORTS during 2010 has seen an all-new host step into the role for the Viking Group Australian Superbike Championship, with Victorian Aaron Noonan expanding his television duties into two-wheels.

Noonan is a regular on Seven’s V8 Supercars Championship Series playing host to various support categories and also featuring as a compare and pit reporter during the main game telecasts.

Most recently during the L&H 500 at Phillip Island we saw Noonan alongside Ken Wootton in the commentary box as the Superbikes made their return to live television in the first two-plus-four round of the season.

MotoOnline.com.au got in touch with Noonan to learn more about the role, as well as get his thoughts on Australian Superbike racing’s increased coverage this season.

Firstly Aaron, great job so far with the ASBK commentary. How are you enjoying learning all about two-wheel motorsport in Australia?

It’s great! It’s something that I’ve followed at a distance for quite a long time, but have never been actually up close and personal with it considering it’s not in our normal world of V8 Supercars.

I mean, the racing is world class and in terms of the support categories that we usually have, the racing at Phillip Island was sensational. For the viewers who normally just watch car racing, I think the hairs were up on the back of their neck for a lot of the time.

It’s great though, I almost feel like a bit of an impostor at some stages. Yes, we’re all a part of the motorsport family, but there’s sort of a line between four wheels and two. It’s nice to have a foot in at both camps now, and be involved in the two-wheel stuff.

Funnily enough, it all came about through contacts that were previously made in V8 Supercars, so I guess everything really is one big happy motorsport family in that sense!

For those motorcycle fans who may not follow other motorsport in Australia, what’s your background and how did you get involved in television?

I guess my career started as a kid in Ballarat doing the radio and local car club, plus magazines and the like. I got a connection at a racing magazine and then the doors opened from there. I spent some time doing PR with the Carerra Cup and then at Holden, plus a few V8 teams.

I always had the want to do commentary whether it was on track or on television, so when the V8s moved to Channel Seven in 2007 and V8 Supercars Television came into existence, I put my hand up and annoyed a few people – sent some emails, made some calls, sent off some tapes and they gave me a go [laughs].

This is year four for me doing TV with them and I’ve been lucky enough to do a bunch of roles. In addition to doing commentary with the V8 support races, I’ve also called a few main game events filling in for Matty White, plus a bit of pit lane stuff and I’ve called the Indycars on the Gold Coast. I’ve done a bunch of different things along the way, really.

That’s pretty much the journey in a nutshell, basically outlining where I am, what I’m doing and how I got here at this point.

You said you followed the Aussie Superbikes from a distance before you got the TV gig, but you certainly seem polished with your knowledge on the sport anyway! How much effort have you put into learning the sport?

Well it could be Go Kart racing in Warrnambool, I’d put the same amount of time and effort into researching it. My job is to know what’s going on, otherwise I can’t do the gig. I feel that unless I do the work and research the sport, what’s the point in doing it unless you’re putting in.

Obviously I don’t have direct relationships with the riders and team as intimately as I do with V8 Supercars, but you build up a bit of an information bank and you can rely on good people around from the motorcycle world to help out and that’s how it comes together.

It’s actually nice to do something a little bit different, which is no disrespect at all to the categories that we do, but to have something a little bit different from what we normally do is something that sparks you up and gets you going.

Plus when the racing is so good with a real feeling around the series that it’s starting to kick up and go places, and coming and doing a bit of stuff with V8 Supercars, it’s a good all-round win really.

What are your thoughts on the whole two-plus-four concept, from a V8 Supercars regular’s perspective?

I think it’s great! I remember the days of the Shell Series when it was the V8s and Superbikes in the ’90s, and the guys who were around then all pretty much went on to do big things overseas. It’s great for the V8s to offer some variety on the support field to attract a different level of fan as well. You know, potentially some people only go to motorbike racing can get exposed to our racing, and vice-versa.

There are benefits for both sides from various angles, and if anything, it wouldn’t matter what the category was, if the racing’s good and the action is spectacular – which the bike racing clearly is – then people will want to watch it. The racing at Phillip Island pretty much backed it up.

Like I said, it’s a great thing. Obviously there are always compromises with track layouts, but wherever we can do it then I think it’s great. I’m sure Superbikes want to have a blend between their own events and coming to race with V8s, without having the weight too far either way.

It’s a win, win situation for all, I believe.

The Phillip Island round was live on Seven, which was fantastic for the ASBK series, so how much more energy goes into a live call compared with the post-recorded events?

They are very different beasts. They’re the same from the point of view that you’re commentating a bike race, but I guess it’s kind of like you’re cooking a cake, but in an entirely different way.

With the post-produced shows as we do for FOX SPORTS at the standalone rounds, you only have a certain window and you have to make things fit. You might have a great deal of information, but there’s only so much time you have to fit it all in.

Whereas with the live call, it’s a bit more organic and a lot more natural in the way that you cover the race and deliver the information that you have – whether you worked on it before the race or picked it up along the way.

I think with all commentators we prefer to call live races more often than not, but they’ve both got their strong points. The live racing is going on right there and then, so the emotion and excitement that comes through via the commentary is very real because that’s what we are seeing for the first time also.

That’s the beauty of live coverage, which is directly transferred into the viewers enjoying the live coverage at home in their armchairs. That’s what’s so good about it, because it’s happening right in front of us too.

Do you believe having the last two rounds live on Seven alongside the Supercars coverage will help boost the bikes in the future?

For sure, without a doubt. I mean, just the exposure to that number of viewers and audience on a free-to-air network is almost immeasurable in a way.

Obviously you can measure it from the ratings and the like, but the brand exposure for series sponsors and team sponsors is a great thing that the category hasn’t had pretty much since the bikes last races with the V8s and the free-to-air television that went with that. The benefits are quite obvious from that point of view, and it only compliments the existing coverage really well.

It’s great for us to offer a slightly different product, and also great for the Superbikes to be seen in front of a bigger audience that may not have watched the bike racing before. They could suddenly see it, like it and want to follow it a bit more.

Okay well thanks a lot for your insight and we look forward to the final round, once again to be live on Seven from Tasmania!

No worries, thank you.