OXFORD — One night, eight champions.

There won’t be any dead air Saturday night at Oxford Plains Speedway. In an unprecedented move, the track will award all eight division titles on Time Warner Cable Championship Night.

In addition to Oxford’s three Championship Series classes — Late Model, Strictly Stock and Mini Stock — the track’s Acceleration Series switches its final race from Wednesday to Saturday for the occasion.

Qualifying begins at 6:30 p.m.

Fans will be treated to 270 laps of green flag racing and no shortage of drama. Seven of the eight championships are still in play.

Oxford’s top division is likely to have a first-time champion.

Jeff White of Winthrop leads Don Wentworth of Otisfield by 20 points — 268 to 248 — heading into Saturday’s finale.

That means mild breathing room but no chance for White to take a breather, either. The winner of Saturday’s 10-lap heat is awarded 15 points, with a one-point drop per position. Winning the feature is worth 50, with a separation of two points each rung down the ladder.

One other driver is technically in the hunt, but it would take a disastrous night for both White and Wentworth to make Tim Brackett the champion for the second year in a row and the third time in his career. Brackett trails White by 55 points.

White and Wentworth have competed at OPS since the 1980s, when both men started out in the Limited Sportsman division.

Being crowned champion would cap a banner year for White. He won the American-Canadian Tour race at OPS in June and won one of the qualifying heats for the TD Bank 250 in July.

Last Saturday, White led the second ACT event of the season at his home track until running out of gas with seven laps remaining, handing the win to Jeff Taylor.

Kurt Hewins of Leeds owns a slim 12-point lead over Skip Tripp on the eve of the Strictly Stock title tilt. Hewins padded that margin slightly by winning the feature a week ago, while Tripp ran second.

The championship would be Hewins’ second straight in the class and his third overall at Oxford. Hewins led the Limited Sportsman division in 2000. Tripp also is a two-time champion.

It’s a virtual match race in Mini Stock, where Darrell Moore of Mechanic Falls guards a nine-point edge over Dan Morris of Auburn. Each driver has a single feature victory and a  flurry of top-five finishes to his credit this season.

Moore seeks his first OPS championship, while Morris eyes his second. He won the 2005 four-cylinder title.

The top two divisions in the Acceleration Series could steal the show in terms of last-lap drama.

Nowhere is the tension higher than in the Runnin’ Rebel division, where three drivers — Scott Farrington, Craig Bartlett and Mike Ward — are tied for the championship.

As long at least one of those three competitors finishes in the top 10, it won’t take great mathematics skills to ascertain the end result. Whichever man finishes ahead of the other two will be crowned champion for the first time in his career.

If all three should stumble, Brady Romano (16 points behind) and Jamie Leavitt (26 back) have longshot hopes.

The eight-cylinder division, Outlaw, has two veteran drivers locked in a fierce battle.

Billy Childs Jr. is four points above Steve Moon in the standings. A third-place finish or better would clinch the first title of a 20-year career for Childs, who competed in Late Model for many years.

Moon has been on the cusp of a championship before, tying Mike Ballard for the top spot in 2007. Ballard won that title by having more wins. Once again, Moon would lose out in the tiebreaker scenario.

The other three Acceleration points chases are relatively one-sided.

Turner’s Ryan Farrar needs only an 11th place finish to lock out Walter Knight and win his third consecutive Sport Truck championship.

Seventh place would be enough for Deanna Bisbee to hold off Dottie Patria and win her first Ladies title. Bisbee’s mother, Debbie Martin, claimed the same championship in 2006.

Based on the point differential and the average number of starters in each division, Gerard Cote is the only leader likely to get a restful night’s sleep entering the finale.

Cote needs only to take the green flag to clinch his second six-cylinder Renegade crown in three years.

Left turns

• Car owners Gene Hatch and Kevin Burgess announced this week that their driver, Vanna Brackett, will graduate from a Strictly Stock to a Late Model in 2012. Brackett will join her father, Tim, and brother, T.J., in the top class.

• Barring any schedule changes due to Hurricane Irene, the Pro All Stars Series is scheduled to compete Sunday at White Mountain Motorsports Park in North Woodstock, N.H. With four races remaining, Johnny Clark holds a sizable lead in pursuit of his sixth series title.

• OPS isn’t done for the season. The track will host a doubleheader on Labor Day weekend — Motor Mayhem on Saturday, Sept. 3, and the 16th annual Little Guy 100s and Acceleration Series Showdown on Sunday, Sept. 4. PASS also will hold its final event of the season at Oxford on Oct. 1.

koakes@sunjournal.com

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