Separate races to be run in LB and Motegi

Unless there’s a last-minute intervention by the gods of reason, the IRL race at Motegi, Japan will run April 19 as scheduled and the 33rd annual Long Beach Grand Prix will take the green flag on April 20.

And both races will count towards the 2008 IRL championship.

That’s correct. The regular IRL teams will be on the oval in Japan with their Dallara-Hondas while the Champ Car teams that are expected to compete full time in the unified series will be running their Panoz-Cosworths for the final time. Drivers will earn equal IRL points in each event.

Apparently, this bizarre doubleheader in different parts of the world was the only compromise that could be reached to accommodate both sides. Long Beach is land-locked into its date and obviously must keep its tradition going in order to secure a new, longer contract. More at SPEEDTV.com