Legends of fall

Jim Gianatsis made this iconic shot of Team Honda’s Marty Smith (9), Yamaha’s Bob Hannah (2), and Suzuki’s Roger De Coster (104) coming off a starting gate in the 1977 Trans-AMA series. At the time, all three were having peak performances: Smith as newly crowned AMA 500cc National Champion, Hannah as the reigning AMA Supercross Champion, and De Coster working on his fourth straight Trans-AMA title (to add to his five FIM 500cc World Championships). This race, at Cycle World USA in St. Peters, Missouri, would be one of the last times these seventies giants all raced together. The winner? De Coster over Hannah and Smith.

Photo By: Jim Gianatsis