It took Brian Halbert six years but the Auburn man finally captured the Washington State Fair’s Super Pumpkin Weigh-In.

Halbert planted, nurtured and grew a pumpkin – a monstrous one that tipped the scales at a walloping 1,314.5 pounds, a fair record.

The first-place prize awarded Halbert $1 for every pound.

Stan Pugh of Puyallup was second with his giant pumpkin weighing in at 1,252 pounds, awarding him $500.

“It was a grand day … and to win it with a record made it even sweeter,” Halbert said of the Sept. 6 weigh-off at the Puyallup Fairgrounds. “I hope my name will stay up on the board for a while.

Halbert’s pumpkin broke the fair’s previous record set by his brother, Robin, who won last year’s weigh-in with a 1,246-pound entry. Robin, an Auburn businessman who lives in Enumclaw, finished fourth in this year’s weigh-in with a 713.5-pound pumpkin.

“I had never broken 1,000 pounds before … I’ve been trying to get that mark for years,” he said of the pursuit. “This year I knew it was over that mark.”

This September was different, so too was the unseasonably long, warmer summer weather that contributed to the healthy pumpkin’s remarkable growth, Halbert said.

Halbert planted the pumpkin early in his greenhouse-protected patch.

He plans to keep the seeds from this year’s champion pumpkin and plant them for a chance to grow a larger successor. He already has a pair of pumpkins, each weighing more than 1,000 pounds, resting in his patch and ready to take on all challengers in the next contest this fall.