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No decision yet on Surfers' future

IndyCar Series officials say they are not expecting a decision on the future of the Surfers Paradise race until the middle of November, but are optimistic they can find a solution

The race has not yet been added to the 2009 schedule because the Indy Racing League and the Surfers organisers have so far been unable to agree on a suitable date.

The IRL was keen to add the hugely successful Australian street race to its calendar when it reunified with the Champ Car World Series, but this weekend's race is taking place as a non-points event because the IndyCar Series was contractually obliged to end its 2008 championship at Chicagoland on 7 September.

Next year the IRL would like to move Surfers to late September so it and the rescheduled race at Motegi in Japan can take place back-to-back - reducing transport costs for the series and teams.

But Surfers officials are concerned that a September slot will present too many clashes with other sporting events, and would prefer to retain the late October date Surfers has occupied for the last decade.

"We have every intention of hopefully working something out," said the IRL's commercial boss Terry Angstadt.

"As we said when we unified open-wheel racing this year it brought both opportunities and challenges. You can imagine when you're trying to blend two racing series and make one better series it really does bring challenges, and this has been one.

"We think it's one that can be one that we can overcome, embrace and make work. I think both sides enter in with a great spirit of cooperation to get this worked out."

Surfers event chairman Terry Mackenroth wants to secure a five-year deal with the IndyCar Series and is also optimistic.

"It's been a great event for the Gold Coast for 18 years and I'm sure it will continue to be," he said.

"It's one of the biggest motor racing festivals in the world. We agreed with the IRL a number of months ago to put on hold our negotiations going forward until this weekend. We wanted to let them bed down their new series, to come here and continue our negotiations."

Should the IRL fail to reach an agreement with Surfers, the event is likely to continue with the V8 Supercars promoted from support races to headline status.

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