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Great Britain's Rob Herring was left high and dry when his Yamaha ran out of gas in the first moto, World Championship 2S0cc MX Series: Round 9 Johnson, Geboers 1-2 at Hollister US Grand Prix By Kit Palmer HOLLISTER, CA, JULY 19 "You ride for your country, not just for yourself," said Team Honda's Ricky Johnson after sweeping both motos and capturing the overall victory at the first-ever 250cc USGP held at the Hollister I MX facility in northern Cali- fornia. "It feels good to win a GP," said john on, ''because it gi ves the Americans omething to brag about, since there are no Americans in contention in the GP circuit." The win i John on's second-career G P viclOry. He also won the last 500 c GP in Carlsbad, California, ill Jun of 1986. Johnson pretty much ran away from the field in both molO, unday, while Belgium's Eric Geboer ,Team uzuki's Johnny O'Mara and Sweden's Jorgen Nilsson all tied for second in points. After the deciding and tie-breabng molO, it was declared that Geboers had wrapped up second overall with a 5;2 tally, ahead of O'Mara's 4-3 and Nil son's 3-4. Geboers now holds a commanding points lead in the 250cc World title chase over Finland's Pekka V~h kunen, 283-254. Vehkonen fini hed second in the first molO, while Geboers took fifth, giving Vehkonen six points on Geboers, but he was - still 18 points behind in the standings before the second moto. However, Vehkonen's chances of catching Geboers, with JUSt three rounds to go, took a serious turn for the worse when the former I25cc World Champion crashed in the second molO and was later slowed by a sticking choke on his Cagiva, then was put out of the race when he ran out of gas. "We have lo tay cool and be realistic," aid Geboers regarding the re t of the 1987 250cc World Championship season. "You never know what's going lo happen - everything can happen 0 quiddy." "Now, it' so very difficult," said Vehkonen. "Eric (Geboers) has so many points. I'm a little upset about this, but I'm al 0 a little bit happy, because 1 wa feeling quite good about riding today. But there is still three Grands Prix left, so anything can happen to Eric." Third overall went to O'Mara who had lo claw and scratch his way through both motoS riding a 1988 pre-production Suzuki RM250, I' while fourth overall went to Nilsson, who rode a Honda. "Shoot, it sure would've been nice lo be second overall," said Nilsson. "But I'm happy. I'm just a private rider and I'm happy with my results. I gained some points on Pekka Vehkonen before this race I was 34 points behind him, now I'm 23 points behind Pekka." RoLinding out the top five was Denmark's Soren Mortensen. Mortensen rode hi factory Yamaha to 6-7 moto finishes. In all, 17 Europeans made an appearance at Hollister, which most of the riders found to their liking. The course was fairly fast with some technical downhill and uphill sections, and an estimated 10,000 spectators watched under clear skies and in mid 700 temperatures. A short, free practice session followed by a timed practice (fastest lap times determines top choice for starting line positions) started th day off. Almost everyone was expecting 1987 250cc National MX Champion, Johnson, to have the fastest time, but he didn't. In fact, Johnson. was third fastest behind Geboers an O'Mara. Geboers' fastest lap time was 1:56.643 followed by O'Mara's 1:58.050. Johnson clicked off i. 1:58.328, while Vehkonen's 1:59.427 and British rider Rob Herring' I :59.831 rounded out the top five. Mortensen was next at 2:00.074. Bob Hannah, who was riding a very trick looking factory RH250 Suzuki, had the II th best time at 2:01.300. The first of two 45-minute-plus two-lap motos got off to a rocky start when American Mike Fisher, riding a pre-production 1988 Kawasaki KX250, captured the holeshot and led for a lap before getting the red nag. "I was bummed," said Fisher. "I just wanted to keep going." But according to AMA referee Ron Crandall, the backwards falling starting gate had rna !functioned causing many rider to get hung up on the gate, which included Johnson and Nils on. Under FIM (Federation Internationale Motocycliste. the sanctioning body of the GP circuit) ruling, anytime a race is red nagged, it's mandatory that the restart be held up for 30 minutes. This gives the riders a chance to refuel for the long 45 minute-plus motos. A little over 30 minutes later, the riders were back on the line as the gate dropped for the restart at 2:21 p.m. Johnson timed the gate perfectly and nailed the holeshot, but went wide in the first turn, letting Vehkonen and Mortensen by on the inside. "I came around the first turn and it looked really wet," said