The Sharp Edge | Toni Sharpless

Track Announcer’s Notebook

If you enjoy absorbing all things motorcycle, there is a podcast you may enjoy, as I do, called Track Announcer’s Notebook (TAN) with host Pat Gonsalves and co-host/ producer Stuart Nodell. The show airs every week live at 8 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday night via Zoom (email stuart@remaxhallmark.com) or you can pick up any previously recorded show anytime on YouTube.

What I like about the TAN show is its casual format and the feeling that I’m trackside among my peeps ‘talking the talk’ and absorbing the behind-the-scenes information. Each show begins with a report on some of the current affairs of motorcycle competition in Canada and abroad then moves into the main segment of the show with an interview of a special guest or guests.

The show’s mix of nostalgia and current affairs has had a wide range of special guests including current and 14-time Canadian Superbike Champion Jordan Szoke to heroes of the past like Steve Crevier, winner of all three championships in 1989 (250 cc, 600 cc and Superbike) and Miguel Duhamel, five-time winner of the Daytona 200 to rising young-guns like Alex Dumas, Sam Guerin and Jordan Royds.

During the episode “TAN with Steve Crevier” you’ll see Steve flash his famous toothy grin as he relives his early days figuring out street riding on an RZ350 and his encounter with an off-duty cop. Then listen as Steve recounts through the ‘90s all of his different rides on top American race teams and why he jests today that Duhamel should give him one of his three Daytona 200 Rolex watches.

The most watched TAN episode to date is “Tales of Superbike Superstar-Miguel Duhamel” where you will hear Miguel respond to Pat when he mentions Crevier’s name, “Well, I’ve never heard of Steve Crevier, I’ll have to google that guy.” Then feel the tension as Miguel relives his thought strategy during that famous last lap on the banking when he made his “crazy move right to the wall” to break the draft against Scott Russell clinching another Daytona win in 1987.

In the episode, “The Flying Frenchmen” you can watch the rivalry forming between the young rookies from Quebec, Alex Dumas, winner of the MotoAmerica 2018 Junior Cup and 2019 Twins Cup championships and the 2020 runner-up Sam Guerin in his rookie year of CSBK Pro Superbike. Add to the mix, another rookie Jordan Royds, fresh from his Amateur Superbike championship wins, explains his 2021 program in the episode “Superbike Contender.” Now that I have virtually met all three of these 2021 CSBK rookies I will be cheering each of them on to the podium!

Of course, I will be cheering on other racers too as I got to ‘know’ them through the TAN shows. Ben Young, Trevor Daley, Michael Leon and Kenny Riedmann have all made guest appearances on TAN. It is interesting to hear how similar their individual training programs are in the off-season and to see the camaraderie among the racers. For example, in a surprising reveal in “Contenders or Pretenders” episode Ben tells the viewers how he lent a workout machine to rival Trevor when his broken ankle prevented him from using his usual training tool, the rowing machine.

As you may have guessed already, although the show covers a smattering of all forms of motorcycle racing, the focus of the show is on the road racing scene, the sport the show curators Pat and Stuart both grew up on.

Pat Gonsalves is the smooth-toned announcing voice of Canadian motorcycle road racing I grew up listening to in the paddock. Pat started his announcing career 1973 when Harry McCluney, one of the four men who bought the property and started Shannonville Motorsport Park, hired Pat to race call their club events. That job was announcing from the back of an old school bus with speakers balancing on top long before the now established Honda Tower was built.

But even from an old school bus the combination of Pat’s voice along with his knowledge from meticulous research on each of the competitors elevates an event to a new level. You could place a couple of traffic cones in an open parking lot, add two motorcycles, two racers and Pat’s announcing voice and you would have a main event worthy of sponsors!

Pat’s producer and co-host of the TAN show is Stuart Nodell, who is no stranger to road racing. In contrast to his quiet demeaner as Stuart reports on the MotoGP scene with “Nodell’s Notes,” his own race results speak volumes. Winning the 50 cc provincial production lightweight class in 1991, then notably the 2002 Can-Am 125 GP at Grattan, MI and the RACE Pro Formula championship in 2003, Stuart has demonstrated he knows the magic of momentum.

Now in their second season of the TAN show I hope Pat and Stuart carry that same momentum with them, as they aren’t just providing under-the-helmet insight that makes watching the races more fun, but they are unwittingly (or deliberately) recording our Canadian motorcycle racing history too. IM