Boris Said is no longer king of the mountain. Todd Bodine and Morgan Lucas have taken his place. Bodine laid down a fast first run, then held on to edge Joe Gibbs Racing phenom Joey Logano on Sunday and capture the first race at the fourth annual Geoff Bodine Bobsled Challenge. Lucas beat Bodine in the spectacular second race. Said, who had won all but one of the first six races since the unique event’s inception, finished sixth in the first race and was eliminated in the second. Geoff Bodine started the Bobsled Challenge in an effort to raise funds for the U.S. men’s and women’s bobsled teams. It features NASCAR and NHRA drivers piloting specially made bobsleds, with members of the New York State Army National Guard serving as brakemen. Todd Bodine, with brakeman Patrick Furman, of nearby Plattsburgh, N.Y., was the only driver to break 50 seconds on both runs of the first race down the difficult Mount Van Hoevenberg track. That left his older brother scratching his head. Bodine and Furman finished with a combined time of 1 minute, 39.18 seconds to beat Logano by 0.40 seconds. Still, Logano again proved he’s a quick study. He struggled in his inaugural appearance a year ago. NASCAR Nationwide driver Larry Gunselman’s second run was the fastest of the race but left him in third, just 0.02 behind Loga# Lucas, who competes in NHRA’s top fuel class, was fourth, followed by Funny Car driver Jeg Coughlin Jr., road racers Said and Eric Curran, and NASCAR Whelen series star Brian Loftin. The bottom four sleds were eliminated after the first run, which left ASA driver Danny Bagwell, top fuel drivers JR Todd and Bob Vandergriff, and Whelen racing series champion Philip Morris watching. The second race was an elimination contest featuring four drivers from NHRA and four from NASCAR. Lucas edged Todd to earn the NHRA berth in the final run against Bodine, who remained the class of the field in eliminating Geoff Bodine, Said, and Loga# For the finale, U.S. coaches Brian Shimer and Bill Tavares acted as brakemen because Lucas and Todd Bodine were piloting Bo-Dyn bobsleds used by the U.S. team. And that provided a dramatic finish. Lucas and Tavares went first, and the speeds increased substantially in the sleeker sleds. Lucas finished nearly 2 seconds faster than in any of his previous runs, and he was lucky to finish. He nearly flipped in one of the final turns before steering hard to prevent it as Tavares’ head whipped sideways, scraping the ice-covered wall. Not to be outdone, Todd Bodine continued his mastery of the tricky layout, posting even faster splits than Lucas as he rocketed toward the bottom. But after building a lead of a quarter second, Bodine wasn’t as lucky entering the same turn that had nearly derailed Lucas — his shiny red sled flipped to give Lucas the triumph.(ESPN/AP)(1-5-2009) INFO: More info and links on my Racing Charity page and On Going Racing Charity News page.(1-3/5-2009)
