V8's return to Perth

[Road_Warrior]

I posted this here because I thought it would be of general interest to everyone.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-...urns-to-perth/

A commitment from the Western Australian government has resurrected Perth's V8 Supercars round.

Controversially cut from the 2010 calendar, the Perth round has been locked in again with a new long-term deal set to be announced by the end of the month.

The about-face came after the WA government reportedly committed $5 million to begin a major redevelopment of the Perth circuit at Barbagallo Raceway and its pit facilities with more funding expected in the coming years.

V8 Supercars CEO Martin Whitaker confirmed on Friday that the 2011 championship would visit every state in Australia.

The Perth round is expected to be held in early June next year.

"Perth is not only good for our fans but also for our major sponsors and we all want to keep WA on the calendar," Whitaker told BigPond Sport.

"As we've said all along we are on track to make an announcement by the end of July.

"I've made it clear in the office that we need to get Townsville out of the way first."

The Townsville round begins with practice on Friday ahead of 200km races on Saturday and Sunday.

Ford's James Courtney (1698 points) narrowly leads the series ahead of two-time defending champion Jamie Whincup (1641pts) and his Holden teammate Craig Lowndes (1452pts) after seven of the 14 championship rounds.

The money had already been committed to be spent, and works were going to begin in 2011 with or without the V8's. So who did the "about face" then?

In any event, for WA fans of this race category its good news.