Five times world champion Eric Geboers drowned after jumping in a lake to save his dog at around 10pm last night. The 55-year-old was on a boat and jumped in to save his dog, say witnesses, but did not resurface. It was at the Miramar lake near Mol in Belgium.

The fire brigade searched until 3.30am with spotlights and a sonar, and searches was resumed this morning with boats and a helicopter equipped with a heat-seeking camera. His body was found on Monday afternoon. The dog swam to the shore and survived.

The lake is up to 30meters deep, is very cold and has some undercurrents. “The water can be very cold,” said Paul Rotthier, the mayor of Mol. “The missing person immediately ran into trouble after jumping in and the people who were with him saw him disappear under water.”

Geboers was team-mate and huge rival to triple world champ Dave Thorpe back at HRC at the end of the 1980s. He was the first rider to win world titles in all three solo classes, 125 on Suzuki and 250 and 500 for Honda. After retiring he worked with his brother Sylvain to run the factory Suzuki MXGP team.