‘So this is Christmas and what have you done?’ The words of John Lennon there. This is always a good time of year to reflect on the twelve months past and look forward to the next. 2025 has certainly been a very busy one for me, in fact, the busiest working year of my life with almost non-stop travel to all sorts of different destinations. You make your own luck and I’m a freelance broadcaster and journalist, so it’s quite simple: the more I work, the more money I earn!
Greg Haines writes from Barcelona
It’s a year that’s taken me back and forward between European destinations plus far out Japan, covering the Suzuka 8 Hours motorcycle endurance race for the first time. If you ever get the chance to go to Suzuka, you must. One of the most special moments for me was going around the track a few days before the race, hearing in my head the McLaren-Honda engine notes of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost as well as the dulcet tones of Murray Walker and James Hunt’s commentary on the dramatic F1 moments the world witnessed there in 1989 and 1990. Covering the 8 Hours as a pit lane reporter is tough with some of the hottest and most humid conditions imaginable. It’s also been fun working with Xavier Simeon (pictured): the Belgian who’s probably drinking a beer right now.
Another exciting new venture was E1, the electric powerboat series which was halfway through its second season when I joined for the final four rounds. It’s two pilots per team, one female and one male, competing for teams represented by famous faces from the worlds of sport and entertainment. It was a great moment (for slightly selfish reasons!) in Miami when the likes of Will Smith, Marc Anthony and Rafa Nadal were reacting to our commentary which goes out all around the venue as well as on TV. Champions, for the second season in a row, were Team Brady – run by American Football superstar and Birmingham City co-owner, Tom Brady – with pilots Emma Kimilainen and Sam Coleman from Finland and Wales, respectively.
Of course, there were motorbikes to talk about. It’s sad to see the humble and precocious Toprak Razgatlioglu depart World Superbikes for MotoGP but the thought of him becoming the first rider ever to claim the title in both is a mouth-watering prospect. He won’t win the MotoGP crown in 2026 but it’ll be very interesting indeed to see how he goes when new regulations and tyres come into play for 2027. I really am neutral when it comes to the riders, and truly admire the raw talent and incredible ability of Nicolo Bulega, but I must admit I have a soft spot for Toprak as we’ve got to know each other quite well since meeting ten years ago. He’s a truly inspirational person and athlete – and he’ll boost MotoGP. I’ll certainly never forget the moment when Toprak crashed due to contact with Bulega during the penultimate race of the season; James Toseland and I couldn’t believe it!
The last few weeks have kept us on our toes. As you have probably seen all across the news, things are very much up in the air at Warner Brothers Discovery – the multi-billion-dollar corporation that owns TNT Sports, for whom I’ve been working since Eurosport UK effectively merged into TNT Sports a year or so ago. The latest uncertainty for so many people working with the company is yet another reminder of how insecure the industry is; as I write this, we still don’t know whether Netflix will win the bid or whether a hostile takeover from Paramount Skydance will come to fruition. Nothing stays the same for long in TV.
A real highlight is working with the fantastic team of people at Red Bull Austria to cover their MotoGP race with trackside commentary. It’s more than just commentary: a whole show which blasts out of the tannoys trackside as well as being beamed around the Red Bull Ring on the big screens. It’s a very different role for me, commentating directly to the people sat at the venue as opposed to a television audience watching from home, and it’s exciting to see the crowd in the grandstands reacting to things we say from the commentary box. When I do a TV commentary, the principal role is to communicate to the audience in the form of informing and entertaining, whereas the trackside job means it’s also our duty to get the crowd going with music and to encourage the odd Mexican wave!
Another classic venue I visited, but for the first time, was Shelsley Walsh in Worcestershire: the oldest motorsport venue in the world never to have closed with the exceptions of World War II and Covid. The history just oozes out of that place. I was there for the Bike Bonanza in July, seeing the legendary ‘Vox Villa’ commentary box in which Murray Walker did his first ever commentary. I later interviewed Steve Parrish and had a sit on Barry Sheene’s 1979 Suzuki 500cc Grand Prix machine. I also went to the incredible Isle of Man TT for the first time – it needs to be seen to be believed. I’ve been that close to bikes when on the pit wall at a circuit but never as a spectator, joined by thousands of other people watching on in awe around the fabled island. In many ways it’s sheer madness! Not only is the race completely unique in terms of a spectacle but the island itself is spectacular. You should go.
Finally, how could I forget ‘The Wildcard’? My chance, as commentator, to ride a motorbike with lessons from the fantastic Beñat Fernandez who soon went on to become Supersport 300 World Champion at the age of 17. I’ll forever be grateful to Paul Tobin and everybody at Team 109 for putting it all together, plus my wonderful TNT colleagues Josh Williams-Lawless, Rich Melton and our superlative producer, Martin Cross, who all played an instrumental role in putting it together. I was very glad to do it for the good of the show – and also glad not to badly hurt myself!
We look to 2026 without knowing what the future holds. Failing to plan is planning to fail but, at the same time, you never know what’s around the corner and so the key thing is to have fun. What’s the point, otherwise? And remember…the harder you work, the luckier you get. Everything happens for a reason! I’m looking forward to seeing what the next twelve months bring.
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a special ‘thank you’ to those of you who’ve sent kind messages of support throughout 2025. It means a lot.
Speak soon
Greg
Greg Haines - Commentator & Presenter 