Hateley
Triumphs in
' ou st o n
H
Astrodome TT
IA bov e) John Hateley earning victory with
Gennai in pursuit; and Hateley savoring it.IBelow). All it takes
is motocross arms and a trusty Triumph. lA bov e, right)
Gary Scott's chain troubles cost a precious lap.
By Gary Van Voorhis
HO USTON. TX .JAN . 28
Britania ruled as the 1977 AMA Grand National Championship/Camel Pro Series got
underway with the TT portion of the Houston
Astrodome /Yamaha Gold Cup /Houston
Chronicle douhleheader. A pa ir of
not -so-new T rium p hs in th e h ands of
John H at e Iey and John Genn ai
sandw iched the simil ar vint age BSA o f
Alex jorgensen a s the west coast
co nt in ue d its stra ng lehold on th e
' Dome 1'1'.
The turning point for Hatclcy ca rne
on lap 23 when Genna i. who held a
on e second lead at th at l ime . slid out
as he braked for turn one a nd the
entra nce to th e infield portion o f th e
tr a ck, " L it tl e J ohn " e a se d pa sl
nod d ing a nd smi ling as he d id (" lIe
woul d have don e rhe sa me if it was
me ." sa id John lat cr . ) a nd p roceed ed
to reel off. in smooth fas hio n . th e
rem a ining two -and -a -half laps on his
H a rel c y Enu-rprises e n t r y. Wi lh
victory in sight and th e crowd cheering
him on . Ha teley lofted his bike's fro nt
wheel in a victo ry sa lu te to th e fans .
Gennai . a lthoug h qui ck ly up and
under way on his Cycle Im ports/Les
Edwards-t uned Triumph. had lost his
momentum and - wors e had
a llowed Alex Jorg"nsen aboard the
jorgy's-sponsored BSA to close the gap
between th e two riders to a few feet.
Before t he lap was over J orgensen had
slippe d int o seco nd a nd the final orde r
wa s set.
Se-co nd yea r Experts Billy Oliver
a nd Ste ve Eklund co m plet ed th e top
five swee p for the west coast. Ja y
Springsteen . in his first event as th e
Skip Aksland (27) and Oregon 's Frank Word pit Yamaha against BSA.
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