Tully 10th in main event

Brian Tully finished tenth in the Perris Auto Speedway’s Street Stocks main event July 28.

The top-ten finish was the second consecutive one for the Fallbrook driver, who has finished in the top ten four times this year. “Every main I made this year I’ve made the top ten,” Tully said.

If the car count forces a B-main to determine which drivers compete in the feature, the top four drivers in each heat race automatically advance to the A-main. The rest of the drivers run the B-main, and the top finishers compete in the A-main while the remainder of the cars are done for the night.

Tully began the six-lap heat race July 28 in the fifth row and moved up to fifth, putting him in the B-main although on the pole to begin the ten-lap race. That night’s B-main was run following the intermission, and the track was watered down during the break.

“It was so slick,” Tully said. “I almost hit the wall and I got hit in the rear end.”

A yellow flag was thrown in the first lap, causing a complete restart. The slick track caused Tully to scrape the wall during the first lap of the restart, and he fell to the back before working his way up to fifth to earn a spot in the 20-lap main event.

Tully began the A-main on the outside of the ninth row. He avoided three accidents during the race, one of which was on the last lap.

Not only did Tully need to avoid the accident-involved cars in front of him on the last lap in order to finish in the top ten, but he also needed to beat out season points leader Jim Coates in a race to the finish line. “Beat him by a fender. It was really exciting,” Tully said.

Coates also had to avoid incidents, which put him just ahead of Tully during the final lap. “He went high and I went low,” Tully said. “I got down on the inside and passed him.”

That created a battle for the tenth position. “He raced back and almost caught me at the finish line. It was within inches,” Tully said.

Those inches gave Tully the top-ten finish. “That’s great,” he said. “Two in a row.”