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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127678
:·D 600cC NationalChampionship .Series' . Final round: Castle Rock IT . IR A K . ' . TTR C .W s Fays day at: Cast:le Rock (left) Mickey Fay captured his first 600cc National Championship title In style. (Right) Fay's win was popular amongst the capacity crowd on hand. (Below left) Jeff Annen (35) looked to be the man to beat, but Mickey Fay (13) stole the lead after the third restart. (Bel ow right) Fay was prese nted with the number-one plate In win ner's circl e. Here, he Is flanked by runner-up Jeff Anne n (left) and third-placed Joe Kopp (right). By Derry l Anderson Photos by Kerry Rose CASI1.E ROCK. WA, JULY 16 or Mickey Fay, it's been a long seven weeks since the original May '29 scheduling of the Castle Rock 600ccNational TT. Maybe even the longest seven weeks of his life. Since the original race was rained out, Fay has had to sit and wait for his chance to earn his first-ever National Championship. Could he do it? Could he win and pull it all off? Needless to say, Fay was nervous. With the rain date scheduled for the same evening as the Hagerstown Half Mile Grand National, defending 600cc National champion Chris Carr was unable to attend, leaving the door wide open for Fay. All was not easy for Fay, however, as in order to clinch the title, Fay would have to finish no worse than first. A second-place finish wou ld leave him in a tie with Carr, but the defending champ's two series wins would gain the edge in the event of a tie breaker. Come race day, Fay put the nerves and jitters behind him and rode like the veteran he is. Though the National was twice halted because of crashes, Fay maintained his composure and raced away with the win in fairy tale fashion, F earning the title and breaking Carr's sixyear reign as champion. Before the National, Fay had hinted that he would soon retire. "This is going to be my last year because it takes so much commitment to my job and family, that I hardly have any time to train," said Fay. "Besides, I just found out that my wife, Tracy, is expecting another baby." After the race, however, Fay's story was a bit different "I'll have to discuss it with the boss, but you can bet 111 be at Daytona with that number one plate on!" HEATS Four heat races, each offering two direct transfers 0 the National, kicked off the evening's action at the Mt. St. Helen's M.e-promoted event. Dan Stanley got a great start, leading Joe Kopp, Eric Rickman, Rick Hocking, Del Schnitzer and the rest into turn one. Stanley went unchallenged, and there was no passing amongst the top five riders. Stanley and Kopp headed for the main, the rest would ride in a semi. Lonny Kopp grabbed the holeshot in heat two, ahead of Fay, Ricky Smith, Rex Fisher and John Clayton. On lap three, Clayton went down and Fisher slid by Smith. Fay was right on Kopp's rear tire for nine laps; but he couldn't find an opening and Kopp wasn't making any mistakes. On the last lap, Fay passed Kopp in tum four and the crowd went wild . Fay and Kopp headed to the main, though Fisher just barely missed out. Heat three saw Gary Strode come off the pole w ith the lead, ahead of Don Wilson, Shane Buchart, Lars Trulson and Paul Iwanaga. By lap three, Strode had 20 yards on Wilson. A lap later Trulson went by Buchart for third place, then moved up to pressure Wilson. On lap six, Trulson got by Wilson for the last transfer spot, and the posi tions were set. Jeff Annen nabbed the holeshot in the fourth and final heat, followed closely by John Wincewicz, who could also tie Carr for the National Championship if he won. Speedy Carver pressured Wincewicz for second throughout the race, and on the last lap was rewarded for his persis tence when Wincewicz slid out. Anne n and Carver headed for the main. SEMIS Hocking smoked the competition in the first eight-lap semi, and was followed into the main by Wincewicz and Hiatt. J.P. Simonsen topped the second semi, barely holding off a hard-charging Fisher. Anderson was the third and final qualifier. Del Schnitzer scored a runaway win in the last semi, followed by Ron Yamamoto and Wilson. BUDWEISER SHOOTOUT The Budweiser Shootout saw the fastest six scratch heat race winners race for five laps, all hoping to win the $1500 winner's share of the $3000 purse. Annen grabbed the holeshot over Stanley, Carver, Harsha , Strode and Lonny Kopp. The first three riders started to pull away from the others, while managing to stay within inches of each other. Stanley was all over leader Annen, and on lap four he pulled up even with Annen in turn two . Annen held the advantage, though.and went on to score the win. Stanley was second over Carver, while Strode, Kopp and Harsha followed at a distance. NATIONAL At the start of the National, Annen again grabbed the holeshot and led Fay through turn one. Two riders went down between turns one and two, however, and the red flags halted the action. On the restart, Annen leapt into tk e lead over Fay, Stanley, Strode, Joe Kopp, Lonnie Kopp and Schnitzer. On lap