BUFFALO TWP — Call him a bridesmaid no more.

After posting four runner-up finishes at the Firecracker 100, Darrell Lanigan broke through and won the rain-delayed, rain-shortened event early Sunday morning at Lernerville Speedway.

The Union, Ky., driver of the No. 29 car captured the $30,000 winner's check as well as his 60th career World of Outlaws Late Model feature win. He is the series' all-time victory leader.

“It's just unbelievable to win this race here,” Lanigan said. “I've come so close before without getting it.”

The eighth annual Firecracker 100 was delayed for an hour and 45 minutes as rain began falling just as cars were lining up at the starting gate. The race finally began at 11:30 p.m. Saturday and did not end until well after midnight.

The stars were certainly aligned for Lanigan — who won his first career Lernerville feature Thursday — to wind up in victory lane.

He drew the No. 2 starting position alongside pole-sitter Jonathan Davenport. Lanigan won his heat race, but the top two finishers in each of Saturday's six heat races took part in the pill draw to determine the first six starting rows for the feature.

“We're in the re-draw and that's all that matters, but putting 12 cars in there seems excessive to me,” said Kent Robinson, who won the final heat race.

Davenport owns 14 feature wins overall this season and seemed headed for victory lane Saturday night. He repeatedly shot out to big leads after passing Lanigan on the 12th lap.

Restarts on the 32nd, 41st and 44th laps did not affect Davenport's ability to widen his lead. But on Lap 68, Davenport's No. 6 car broke and he was done for the night.

“I think the transmission went coming off the back straightaway,” Davenport said. “It looked we were about to get a big one tonight. I got hurt by lapped cars, it didn't hold up ... It's just disappointing.”

Lanigan inherited the lead after Davenport dropped out and maintained it for the rest of the night — but not without a threat from Scott Bloomquist.

Bloomquist just missed passing Lanigan on the 89th and 90th laps as rain returned to the speedway. The race was stopped after 91 laps as the rain became heavier and Lanigan was declared the winner.

“I'm glad they stopped it. It was getting hard to stay on the track,” Lanigan said.

Bloomquist wound up fin ishing second in all three feature events over the Firecracker weekend.

He liked his chances of winning the Firecracker 100 after securing his third heat win of the weekend earlier in the night.

“Absolutely,” he said. “The car feels really fgood. It's maneuverable and you have to be able to run the low, top or middle to win a 100-lap race like this.”

Controversy affected the race during the first heat of the night as contact between Chub Frank and Shane Clanton forced Clanton to pit in the infield area for a tire change and quick repair to a damaged side of the car.

When Clanton returned his No. 25 car to the track, still on the lead lap, he softly drove it into the back of Frank's No. 1 car while the race was still under caution.

By WoO rules, Clanton was black-flagged from the heat and disqualified from further competition for the night. An irate Clanton walked from the pit area to the infield and argued vehemently with the race director for a number of minutes before returning to the pit area.

Later in the night, Clanton returned to the starting gate and exchanged words with Frank as the latter was lined up to run his B-Main.

Alex Ferree of Saxonburg and Jared Miley of South Park were local drivers to qualify for the Firecracker 100 through the heat races. Neither lasted long as Ferree ran 23 laps in the feature, Miley 14.

Seneca Valley graduate Mike Pegher Jr. used a Lernerville provisional to enter the feature and ran for 30 laps. His 24th-place finish was best among local drivers.

Notes: Jimmy Owens, Friday's feature winner, joined Bloomquist as a three-time heat winner over the weekend, but car problems ended his feature run Saturday after 37 laps. ... Only 12 of the 29 cars that started the Firecracker 100 finished on the lead lap. ... The Uncle Sam 30 was postponed by rain and will be made up as part of the Working Man 50 WoO Late Model show Aug. 29 at Lernerville.