Fay And Honda Win Houston Tt
FAY AND HONDA WIN HOUSTON TT
Weinert paddles to Stadium Win; Roberts hurt in Japan; Fay and Boody split Houston TT/Short Track Winston Pro Wins.
RACE WATCH
"I wanted it." said Mickey Fay after winning the Houston TT on a Honda. He put his hand over his heart and said again I wanted it bad right here and I took it. It's still kind of hard to believe that I won."
It was rush effort that yielded a Winston Pro Series win for the Honda XR500 in the first attempt. Fay. a 19-year-old dry-wall taper from Seattle. Washington came close to winning the Castle Rock TT last year, and was brought together with Honda through the work of Monte Darling, the American Honda Field Service Representative for the Seattle area. Darling convinced Honda that Fay was worth a
gamble, and the deal was made. Honda supplied an XR500 engine, a set of leathers. money for a frame and running gear and expenses for the trip to Houston.
Roger Stanley, Service Manager of Burden Honda, is Fay’s wrench. Stanley welded up a piston from an optional "Honda XR500 performance kit to increase compression, installed a Mega Cycle camshaft and fabricated an exhaust system. Dick Washer, who builds Wasco frames in his garage, made the frame and Champion running gear was installed. The bike—which weighed 240 lb. with %-tank of gasoline—was first assembled just four days before the Houston race, and was loaded into a truck with the paint still wet. Before practice, the engine had just 20 minutes running time.
According to Stanley, the Honda in finished form made more power and torque with higher peak rpm than the Yamaha TT500 engines he has had experience with. Fay put the power to good use by qualifying fifth.
It was in the first heat that it became evident just how hungry Fay really was. Fay was hangin’ it out. and that’s all there was to it. Motocrosser Mike Bell, watching from the infield said “He'll throw it away. He can’t ride like that and get away with it.”
But Fay did. trading positions with fast qualifier (and last year's winner) Steve Eklund until a restart of the heat. Two restarts later Fay was leading when Eklund. Steve Morehead and Rod Spencer tangled behind him and crashed. Problems restarting and crash damage to the exhaust system relegated Eklund to the semis.
Eklund made the final by winning his semi and the stage was set for the final race. “1 just give him the bike and try not to watch.” said Fay's tuner. Stanley, before the National. “I just close my eyes. I just got to talk to him. get him to calm down. not do anything wild.”
“My mechanic doesn't tell me anything because he doesn't want me to worry about over-revving the bike or anything.” said Fay. Then he went out. took the lead in three laps and started pulling away from the pack. Eklund hit some ruts in one turn and crashed, but worked his way up to eighth by the finish. Defending Winston Pro Champion Jay Springsteen didn’t start his semi after a heat-race crash—another rider hit him broadside—and the effects of stomach tlu set in. John Gennai’s venerable Triumph was second, followed by Randy Goss (Harley-Davidson). Rick Hocking on another Honda and Skip Aksland on the monoshock TT500 Kenny^ Roberts would have ridden at the Astrodome had he come to start-money terms with the race promoters. Honda also gave David Aldana and Sonny Burres XR500 engines, but Aldana crashed while third in» his heat and didn’t make the transfer to the main event from his semi, and Burres also'1 failed to make the main from his semi. Aldana's and Burres' bikes used Star Racer frames, while Hocking’s Honda was fitted into a Knight Fabrication frame.
