BUFFALO TWP — It took Josh Richards all of nine minutes to get into the Firecracker 100.

The 21-year-old World of Outlaws Late Models points leader started Thursday night's 30-lap feature up front and led from wire to wire on his way to victory at Lernerville Speedway.

The feature had no cautions and lasted nine minutes. Besides picking up the $6,000 winner's check, Richards gets a guaranteed starting spot in Saturday night's $30,000-to-win Firecracker 100.

"I'll still be coming to race on Friday," said Richards about the three-night Outlaws race card. "We're racing for points, so everybody's going to come right back out here and go hard again."

The Shinnston, W.Va., resident is the defending Outlaws points champion and has maintained the series lead this year despite not winning a feature in a month. Thursday night's trip to victory lane snapped that slump.

"We had a rough Canada trip. Things haven't gone well lately, but you just stay with it," Richards said.

Shane Clanton finished second and was pushing Richards for the lead over the final four laps.

"I wasn't settling for second," Clanton said. "I was trying to get alongside him coming off turns and got close.

"He was fast. I was fast. A caution probably wouldn't have mattered."

Clanton was the fastest qualifier during time trials, turning a lap in 15.849 seconds, well off the track record of 15.072 set by Darrell Lanigan in 2005.

By winning Thursday's feature, Richards earns the pole position for his heat race Saturday. If he doesn't qualify for the Firecracker 100 pill draw, he will start the feature from the 19th spot.

Scott Bloomquist, the winner of the inaugural Firecracker 100 in 2007, started Thursday's feature seventh and finished third. He was gaining momentum toward the end of the race.

"If the race was 40 laps, I might have done it," Bloomquist said of trying to overtake the leaders.

Clanton said he had a harder right rear tire than the rest of the field and the move was paying dividends late in the race. He could have used a few more laps as well.

"Their tires were getting hot toward the end of the race and mine were coming in," Clanton said. "I could come off Turn 2 better than they could."

Richards hit lapped traffic about midway through the race.

"I had no idea where to go. The whole race, I felt terrible," he said. "I was just pushing the car through (turns) 3 and 4.

"This was by far the slickest track I've ever won on."

The victory marked Richards' fifth of the campaign in the Outlaws series. His last win was in mid-May at Hagerstown, Md.

Only three area drivers were among the 26 cars in the feature. John Mollick started 12th, Gregg Satterlee 17th and Alex Ferree 24th. Saxonburg's Ferree qualified through a B-Main.

Mollick was the best among the locals in the feature, finishing 21st.

Chuck Sarver of West Sunbury was the fastest local qualifier with a lap of 16.315 seconds, which was 12th quickest of all drivers.

Notes: There were seven local drivers among the nine in the final heat race. Mollick finished second in that race to qualify for the feature. ... Cranberry Township's Lynn Geisler and 2008 Firecracker 100 champion Brian Birkhofer fell one spot short of qualifying for the feature, finishing third in their respective B-Mains.