
The world mourns a legend today, in fact it will be some time before the motocross family get over the loss of Eric Geboers. A friend to many, and a legend to us all. Five world motocross championships, 39 Grand Prix victories, individual honour in the MXoN, and of course Mr 875, the first man to win world motocross championships in 125cc, 250cc and 500cc.
That is just a start of how you can describe him, there was also Eric Geboers the fan, the guy who would sit trackside with fellow fans drinking a beer or having a laugh. He was attainable to everyone, and despite his legendary status was as comfortable at the side of the track with fans as he was with at the peak of his career, and in deep battle with the likes of Dave Thorpe, Georges Jobe, Harry Everts or Andre Malherbe.
But words can’t express what we all feel. Eric Geboers was a fun guy, always smiling and always willing to talk or have a laugh. I know a handful of years ago, on many occasions I would ask Eric for an interview, picking his brain for our sports history and his achievements in them. Like a little boy in a lolly shop I just couldn’t get enough information and Eric would often laugh when he saw me heading his way, “another important history story Geoff”, he would laugh, but always open to stand for as long as I needed him. I just wish I had sat down with him now and done a 2-hour long interview on his career, a career I only saw flashes, on the odd trip to America or Europe.
I first set eyes on Eric Geboers at the 1984 USGP at the famous Carlsbad circuit, he was just one of many legends going around that day, names like Thorpe, Glover, Malherbe, Jobe, Johnson, O’Mara and so many more. Yes, an era of true legends and the battles were as intense as brutal.
A handful of times I got to see him race, in the mud at the MXdN at Unadilla a special one as he helped Belgium onto the podium in the mud. When he retired in 1990, I still hadn’t moved to Europe and I missed most of his highlights, but of course, no matter which part of the world you lived, you knew who Eric Geboers was.
Newpapers around the world have written their own words on our sports loss, from the Sun in England (https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport...) to Panarama in Holland (https://panorama.nl/sport/moto...) and of course in Belgium (http://sporza.be/cm/sporza/aut...), where the whole country is in mourning for their hero.
For Youthstream president, Giuseppe Luongo, Geboers was more than just a former racer. Luongo and Geboers were good friends, spending time together away from the track. Geboers was a big supporter of the Youthstream system, but also long before Luongo took over the Grand Prix promotion. The two went back as far as 1983, and from that moment on they build an alliance with each other. For Luongo, it was news brought him to his knees. This weekend in Latvia I will be doing an extended interview with Mr Luongo about his friend, among other things.
“Unfortunately,” Giuseppe Luongo said. “When similar news arrives, there are no words to express the sadness. Yes, Eric and I were friends for a long time, practically since the first race I organized in Ponte a Egola in 1983 and from that time we did a lot of things together: as a rider he raced every race I organized and then when he retired we organized several races together from the Supercup in Belgium in the early ‘90s to the Belgian Grand Prix and the Motocross of the Nations of today. Eric had 100 ideas a day and his life was like his racing: full of vitality and always ready to attack. It is a big loss for Motocross, but we will always remember him, and he will always be present in our hearts and in the hearts of all MX fans.”
Davey Coombs of MXSports in America also remembered his Belgian friend, and while the relationship between the two was probably more like most of us, at a distance, Coombs knew all too well the legend of Eric Geboers and his contribution to our great sport.
“I was lucky enough to at the 500cc U.S. Grand Prix at Glen Helen in 1990, which turned out to be his last GP, and of course he won! Eric was always a pleasure to be around, and while I didn't get to see him much when he was racing, he was always willing to do a little bench-racing whenever our paths crossed. He was short in stature, but as a lifelong motocross fan, he was bigger than life to me. I was honoured to think of him as a friend, though I imagine he had millions of friends. And man could he ride a motorcycle -- any size, any conditions, any track.
“Five years ago, Eric and Sylvain came to the 2013 Anaheim SX opener to work on their deals with Suzuki and Rockstar Energy. Rockstar's Mike Kelso and I had decided to go sit up in the grandstands rather than the stuffy press box, and Eric and Sylvain went along with us. We went to the very upper deck to find four seats together, and ended up drinking beer and cheering for Davi Millsaps, who rode for Rockstar Suzuki at the time. When Millsaps actually won the Geboers brothers could not have been happier, and we all hustled down through the stadium to get to the rig, so we'd be there by the time Millsaps and his crew were back from the podium celebration. Eric and Sylvain could not have been happier for the guys--it was the Rockstar Suzuki team's first supercross win--and I remember thinking that Millsaps and his guys probably had no idea that these two Belgian guys just hanging out in their pits are true motocross gods.”