BUFFALO TWP — Don't blame Darrell Lanigan if he's trying to make up for lost time.

He's doing a pretty good job of it.

After blowing an engine while leading the 50-lap Showdown in Sarvertown for 33 laps Thursday night, the Kentucky driver returned to the Sarver track with a vengeance Friday evening.

Lanigan turned the fastest lap during time trials for Saturday's Firecracker 100 at 17.754 seconds, or 101.386 mph, and won the first heat race to put himself in the main event.

"We had some bad luck with the motor last night," Lanigan said. "We got it changed and it looks like we're back in the game tonight."

There was some bad luck spread around the track Friday as drivers tried finishing among the top three in their respective heat races to gain a spot in Saturday night's 100-lap feature. The winner of the Firecracker 100 takes home $30,000.

Nick Reges of Butler got his No. 38R on the Lernerville track for the first time this season. He was in the first heat race and saw his night come to an early end when his car burst into flames on the front straightaway after only a few laps. Reges escaped unhurt.

Veteran World of Outlaws driver Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., who underwent back surgery in January and only returned to action last week, got turned sideways in his heat race and was hit by another car, forcing his No. 39 to roll a few times.

McCreadie took an ambulance ride back to the pits, but he was OK. He is expected to return for one of the B-Mains Saturday.

"We're all just hoping Timmy's OK," said veteran driver Steve Francis, who won that heat race. "He just got back to racing and he took a bit of a roll there."

Robbie Blair of Titusville was leading the fifth heat by a wide margin when his car simply shut off with four laps remaining. Maryland driver Jamie Lathroum wound up winning the heat in his first race at Lernerville.

The third heat race involved the winners of the first two Firecracker 100 races: Scott Bloomquist in 2007 and Brian Birkhofer last year. Bloomquist won the heat and Birkhofer was second.

Two Western Pennsylvania drivers from South Park qualified for the Firecracker 100 through their heat races. Jared Miley finished a strong second to Francis in Heat No. 2 and Keith Barbara slipped past Dave Hess Jr. on the final turn of the final lap to grab the third qualifying spot in Heat No. 5.

Area driver Mike Blose nearly got the third qualifying spot in Heat No. 1, but Rick Eckert passed him on Turn 4 of the final lap to take it away.

Two unique drivers failed to qualify in their heats. Tyler Reddick of Corning, Calif., is a 14-year-old Outlaws driver, and April Farmer of Livingston, Tenn., is the only female driver in the 61-car field.

Reddick was racing go-carts at age 4 and was driving a Sprint car at age 12.

"My dad used to race a Modified on asphalt and dirt, and I really got into the sport by watching him," Reddick said.

Reddick has been on the Outlaws Late Model Tour since February. He's qualified for four features and finished as high as 17th.

Farmer, 29, has been racing Late Models for 12 years and is trying to become the first woman to qualify for an Outlaws Late Model feature.

She's been competing on the Northern Tour all week and fell one position short of qualifying every night last week.

"I actually did qualify for an Outlaws feature last Saturday, but it got rained out," she said.

Farmer began racing four-wheelers when she was 4. She finished sixth in points and was Rookie of the Year in the Advance Auto Thunder Series.

Notes: The 61 cars in the pits were from 14 states and Canada. ... Lanigan's fast time of 17.754 seconds was more than two seconds off his Lernerville Late Model record of 15.072, set in April 2005. ... B-Main racing begins at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, followed by the Uncle Sam 30 for non-Firecracker qualifiers, then the main event.