‘94 WINTER OLYMPICS / LILLEHAMMER : NOTEBOOK : Race-Off Eliminates Will From Bobsled

In a three-way, two-heat race-off for the two U.S. positions in two-man bobsled competition beginning Saturday, drivers Jim Herberich and Brian Shimer eliminated Randy Will.

Herberich’s Bo-Dyn sled will be designated USA I, since he and pusher Chip Minton won the race-off with a time of 1:46.93 for the two heats. Shimer’s Bo-Dyn will be USA II. He and pusher Randy Jones did 1:47.17, edging Will and Jeff Woodard by eight one-hundredths of a second.

Shimer, in his third Olympics, wasn’t pleased to merely stay alive in two-man. He is hampered by what he says is a very sore left hamstring strain, which affects his start times, and said his Bo-Dyn still needs tuning on the Olympic track.

“I was hoping to be in the 52s by now,” he said of his 53.28 and 53.89 heats. “Other countries are running pretty fast, and we’re not where we should be. I’m not excited just making the team. I’m here to win a medal.”

One distraction was removed for Shimer and teammates when driver Bruce Rosselli dropped the suit he had filed in an Indianapolis federal court.

Rosselli had charged the U.S. bobsled federation with a conspiracy against him in the Olympic trials and said Shimer had been a part of it. Rosselli was also asking the court to order new trials.

“I believe . . . we should not continue that fight when it threatens to throw a cloud over the many innocent American bobsled athletes who are competing in Norway,” Rosselli said in a statement.

He said he would continue to ask the U.S. Olympic Committee to investigate his charges, but a USOC spokesman said there is no investigation pending.