MOTOCROSS : Belgian Rider Geboers Leads Fast Field in 500cc

World championship motocross will return to Southern California today after an absence of four years when five-time world champion Roger DeCoster presents the U.S. 500cc Grand Prix at Glen Helen Park.

DeCoster is hoping to revive the motocross tradition that was built at Carlsbad between 1973 and 1986. At the peak of the sport’s popularity, 40,000 fans watched as European champions met the best from the United States. When Carlsbad was closed as a world championship facility, the USGP was moved to Hollister Hills, Calif., with indifferent results.

When it appeared that there would be no world 500cc championship held in the United States this year, DeCoster bid for a sanction. Today he is looking for 15,000 fans in hopes of rekindling that interest. The site is where several hundred thousand were on hand in 1985 for a rock festival.

Today’s two 40-minute races that will be contested over a 2,030-meter hillside course are not lacking for talent.

Eric Geboers of Belgium, who clinched his fifth world championship last month, heads an entry of 39 riders from 10 nations that includes eight of the top 10 riders in the world championship circuit. Today’s Grand Prix is the 12th and last of the 1990 season. Also entered are a few Americans, including Rick Johnson of El Cajon, who won the USGP in its final Carlsbad race; and Johnny O’Mara of Simi Valley, who has won USGPs in the 125cc and 250cc classes.

“This is an excellent 500cc track,” O’Mara said after posting the fastest lap during timed practice Saturday. O’Mara took his green and white Kawasaki around the course in 2 minutes 02.4 seconds, nearly three seconds faster than runner-up Paul Malin of England, also a Kawasaki rider.

“It’s well set up for a ‘500’ bike because it’s not tight, so we can really open up in places. I would say it’s one of the best 500 tracks I’ve ever ridden. The ground is good for traction, so I expect to see some great racing.”

Malin, who has ridden the entire Grand Prix season, called the Glen Helen track “the most fun track” because “it is pretty quick, has a few tight corners but mostly wide sweepers. It should be fun.”

O’Mara won the USGP 125cc in 1985 at Mid-Ohio on a Mugen and the 250cc in 1985 at Unadilla, N.Y., on a Honda. If he can win the 500cc today on a Kawasaki, he will be the first rider to win all three U.S. championship races. O’Mara is one of the most physically fit riders in the world, so the 40-minute races--10 minutes longer than the American Motorcyclist Assn. national events--should favor him.

Johnson, recovering from a broken wrist that has hampered him since March, has won USGPs the last four years: the 500cc at Carlsbad in 1986 followed by three consecutive 250cc events in 1987-88-89, all on a Honda. The El Cajon veteran had to skip the stadium Supercross series when his wrist failed to heal properly, but he returned to racing when the national 500cc season began last month. Last Sunday, in Millville, Minn., he finished third behind Jeff Stanton and Jeff Ward.

“Neither one of them (Stanton or Ward) is here, so I figure my chances are good to win,” Johnson said. Stanton, the Supercross and national 250cc champion, is not eligible because he rode--and won--the USGP 250cc earlier this year. Riders are permitted to compete in only one world championship race per country. Ward is skipping today’s race to concentrate on defending his national 500cc championship. With four races remaining, he is only two points behind Stanton.

U.S. riders have won seven of the last nine world 500cc events held in the United States since Marty Moates of San Diego cracked the European stronghold in 1980 in one of the most stunning upsets in motocross history. Moates had never won a national race. Only Hakan Carlqvist of Sweden in 1983 and Geboers in 1988 went back overseas with a victory.

Ron Lechien of El Cajon dominated last year’s race at Hollister, winning both races, but he is not riding today because of a serious leg injury.

The 500cc races today will be at 1:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. There will also be two 125cc support events and an exhibition featuring such old-timers as John DeSoto, America’s first motocross hero; Jim Pomeroy, Rex Staten, Kent Howerton, Goat Breker and Gennadi Moiseev, three-time world 500cc champion from the Soviet Union.