On Wednesday, 27 August, 1927, the Corporation Plans Committee in Middlesbrough approved the construction of a greyhound track and stadium to be built on the main road between Newport and Thornaby. A series of allotments adorned the site of which 70 out of 115 tennants affected had agreed to get off the land owned by the Cleveland Trust Company. The road referred to became known locally as ‘the Wilderness Road’, running parallel to the railway line that ran from Thornaby to Middlesbrough. The track would measure some 500 yards and would be built by a company formed by Mr Jack French on 11 acres of land.
The Evening Gazette published photographs of the construction of the track in January, March and April 1928. It was announced in January that the stadium would be known as ‘Cleveland Park’. The home straight grandstand is clearly visible as is the concrete terracing on the back straight whilst Middlesbrough Electricity Committee agreed to supply electricity in return for building a small sub station on the land. The track’s peculiar shape perhaps explaining why the dirt track built on the inside was 410 yards. The first mention of dirt track racing appearing was published in May 1928 when it was announced that the Greyhound Racing Association had entered into an agreement with International Speedways.

There were calls to reopen Newport Station which had been closed down during the first world war. Objections to approval of the greyhound stadium came mainly from religious groups like Middlesbrough Free Churches who feared that gambling would be the curse of the working classes. Typical of the reaction was the Reverend Sam Rowley of Bradford, who went on to suggest: “It is an abominable scandal that speculators should dump down greyhound tracks against the wishes of the community.”
On Saturday 19 May at 7.30pm the very first greyhound meeting took place at the newly constructed stadium. The advert in that night’s Evening Gazette boasted of accommodation for 29,000 people and Motor Parking for 1000 cars. Admission was five shillings, 2/4, 1/-. The Band of the 1^st Middlesex Regiment opened proceedings.

On 20 July, 1928, it was announced that four dirt track racing companies had agreed to amalgamate after protracted negotiations. Between them they controlled nearly 2,000 British riders. The first dirt track meeting to take place at Cleveland Park occurred on Thursday, 23 August, featuring guests Sig Schlam and Ron Johnson from Australia, Johnny Broughton from London and Fred Fearnley from Manchester. A fuller list is completed further down the page. A programme featuring 20 races featured on the opening night. Incredibly the second meeting was scheduled to take place just two days later on the Saturday at 3pm!
Fred Creasor was the best of the local riders who took part on the opening night. Fred ran a butchers shop with brother Walter in town, so it was a popular night’s work. Walter having played his part in the night’s entertainment. Charles Sanderson and Phil Blake were also mentioned as ‘riding brilliantly’

Walter Creasor who took part in the first ever meeting at Cleveland Park and became a Newcastle rider in 1929
Courtesy of Ernie Crust of Middlesbrough Motor Club

The third meeting was to feature lady rider Fay Taylour but she was eventually replaced by local farmer’s daughter Eva Asquith, a well known grasstrack rider from Bedale, North Yorkshire. Riding a Velocete she made a poor start in her first race but finished second. In her second race she beat E.Fawcett after he had fallen in pursuit of his rival.

A Thumbnail Sketch of Events in 1928
The very first meeting took place on 23rd August, 1928 scheduled as 'The Stockton Handicap'
Competitors were hailed as "cinder shifters"
Competitors rode machines such as A.J.S, Ariel, B.S.A., Harley, New Imperial, New Hudson, Raleigh, Rex Acme, Royal Enfield, Rudge & Sunbeam.
Tickets for admission cost one s 1/2d (7p), 2/4d. (12p), 3/6d, (171/2p) - ladies were allowed in free.
An opening night crowd of "between 12 and 15,000" (North Eastern Daily Gazette) attended the first meeting.
Riders who competed included the Creasor Brothers: Fred and Walter, Harry Whitfield, Charlie Barrett, Ron Carling, Alec Peel, Fred Fearnley, Ron Johnson, Johnny Broughton, Sig Schlam, Phil Blake, Bert Fairweather, Ronald Parkinson, Charlie Datson, W.Collinson, W.Coulthard, C.Sanderson, O.Rayner, R.Fletcher, R.Smith, E.Smith, GG Bower, C.W.Halliday, N.Watson, CR Sander, F Thompson, SO Tuck, JG Ellis, SC Bradburn, JW Elgey, A.Smith, M.Spence and "Jarrah" Johnson

Pictured Above: Norman Evans, Charlie Barrett, Jack Ormston

 Pictured Left: an advert from the 1928 season that appeared in the North Eastern Daily Gazette

Further meetings took place in August on 25th and 30th. Seven meetings took place in September including a Yorkshire versus Lancashire meeting. Four meetings took place in October including 'The Cleveland Handicap' & 'Golden Gauntlet'. In November three meetings took place, the last of these on 16th billed as 'The Sadler Cup.
 

Harry was born in Middlesbrough on May 9^th, 1908.He was a frail and delicate boy and on medical advice he was sent by his parents to live on a farm at Great Ayton when he was 8 years old. Harry was to stay there with foster parents for 10 years. Harry took part in local sand racing and grass track events before becoming the local star of Middlesbrough speedway in the first year of speedway in this country. Billed as the Cleveland Park Champion, Harry held the track records and also the John Gjers Cup and both the Golden Gauntlets .He moved on to Wembley for the 1929 season. He became known as £100 Harry Whitfield when he won meetings at Glasgow White City and Edinburgh Marine Gardens, both of which £100 was the prize money (1929!). Harry was paired with George Greenwood at Wembley and these two are credited with developing the art of team riding. (George was to become Middlesbrough captain in 1939). Harry decided to hang his leathers up in 1936 but in 1939 he was enticed out of retirement by his good friend Bluey Wilkinson to ride for Sheffield. After world war two Harry was back on his home patch at Cleveland Park promoting the very successful Boro Bears 1946-47-48. He moved with the team to Newcastle for the 1949 season. After his retirement Harry became an RAC/ACU examiner and was still involved with Middlesbrough Motor Club. Harry passed away on September 14^th, 1988.

1929:- After a first season of open meetings in 1928 Middlesbrough joined the English Dirt Track Northern League for the 1929 season The teams competing alongside Middlesbrough in this league were, Barnsley, (who have the distinction of holding the first ever league meeting in Britain, losing 26-36 to Leeds), Belle Vue, Bolton, Burnley, Halifax, Hanley, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Preston, Rochdale, Salford, Sheffield, Warrington and White City (Manchester). Among the riders who appeared for Middlesbrough were, Charlie Barrett, Jack Ormston, Norman Evans, James “Indian” Allen, Frank Harrison, (who also called himself “Yank” Harrison), Alec Hill, Dick Bailey, Alec Peel, Eddie Crenston, Ron Carling, Jack “Broncho” Dixon, Dan Buck, Billy Blincoe, R.C.Pick, W. Brown, E. Johnston, G. Bower, Arthur Moore and Charlie “Tiger” Sanderson.1929 was a year of recession and teams had to close down. The league ended in somewhat of a farce with teams withdrawing from the league during the season and their results expunged. This meant Middlesbrough finished second from bottom in the final league placings having won 6 and lost 13 of their league meetings.

Pictured Above: Alec Hill, Alec Peel, Charlie Barrett, Charlie Sanderson (First Row), Dick Bailey, Frank Harrison, Jack Dixon, Jack Ormston (Middle Row), James Allen, Norman Evans, Ron Carling (Bottom Row)
 Photos: Copyright of John Somerville from the Wright Wood Collection.

AUTO MOTOR JOURNAL (northern edition) reported:
MIDDLESBROUGH, 10th June, 1930
"A very large crowd turned up to see Frank Varey, who is always an attraction.  He was matched against Jack Ormston (Wembley) in a
 best-of-three affair, and won the first two, Jack's chain jumping off in the first when leading.  Jack had his revenge in the Golden
Gauntlet race however, when he made the fastest time of the night (73 secs) and showed Frank the way home.
Ernie Evans did not figure in the awards for the simple reason that he loses too much time on the bends, but the crowd enjoyed his
display more than anyhting else and to see him riding flat over and flat out, churning up the cinders, pleased them immensely.
In a special display with Alec Peel he made the local lad look very small fry.
Dave Johnson won the Junior Handicap by really hard riding and Doug Ormston (6 secs) finished alone in the senior event."

Thanks to Adrian Pavey for a copy of the above report

Some meetings took place between 1931 and 1935 but these need researching
George Greenwood was involved in promoting some 'open licence' meetings during these years

1936 - 1938:- Open Licence promoted by Tom Bradbury-Pratt

MIDDLESBROUGH PROMOTER TOM BRADBURY-PRATT
Sadly he died in 1939

The Speedway News from 18th September, 1936, reported thus:

"The revival of speedway racing at Middlesbrough under Mr Tom Bradbury-Pratt's control has been a great success.  Last Friday - despite poor weather an almost capacity crowd attended to see some fine riding, as one might expect with such men as Langton, Ormston and Huxley present.
For the second week in succession, Jack Ormston proved himself the man of the night, being unbeaten throughout the programme and returning the best time of 71 seconds. 

COXHOE-based JACK ORMSTON enjoyed a good night at Cleveland Park in September 1936

The main item was the match between the North and the Overseas which was won rather easily by the North at 46 points to 26.  For the North, Ormston and Kitchen were undefeated, while Langton returned 9 points.  The Overseas were disappointing both Huxley and Grosskreatz being below par, and the bulk of the points were gathered by Jack Milne, who rode hard for his 9 points.  His defeat of Langton in heat 5 was one of the high spots of the racing.
The Middlesbrough Championship brought the best racing and Trujillo raised enthusiasm by pushing Langton home in fast time.  In the final Ormston showed just how great a rider he is now by heading Langton, closely followed by Kitchen in the very good time of 71.8"
It seems the crowds turned out in force for the meetings staged in 1936.  Promoter Bradbury-Pratt reported an attendance of 10,000 plus for one meeting held in September.  He mentioned in one programme about applying for league status but he must have been refused because league speedway didn't return until 1939.
Eight meetings took place in 1937 - details are sketchy but a London team visited Cleveland Park on 28th May.  Birmingham were the visitors on 23rd July and a combined America/Australia side competed on 6th August.
Attendances totalled 12,632 in 1938 (Stenners Speedway Annual 1946)
This fact is interesting because we only have details of ONE meeting taking place in 1938 and that was on 16th September when Newcastle and London took part in a three team tournament.

It was Vic who named the team the Bears in 1939

Pictured Above: Aub Lawson, Bob Wells, Geoff Godwin, George Greenwood (Top Row), Jack Hyland, Jack Tidbury, Phil Bishop, Tommy Bateman (Middle Row),Alec Peel, Wilf Plant, Will Lowther (Bottom Row)
 Photos: Copyright of John Somerville from the Wright Wood Collection.

1945: - Four Open Licence Meetings promoted by Stan Greatrex. Attendances totalled 51,341 (Stenners Speedway Annual 1947)

In partnership with Arthur Atkinson at West Ham , Stan Greatrex was one of the well known pre-war riders.  He captained London club New Cross in 1939 and although he was never a big star he was a reliable team member and a great favourite with the Old Kent Road speedway fans.  Overshadowed by Cordy Milne, Ron Johnson, Bill Longley and Joe Francis.  A native of Coventry he rode for his hometown team before moving south.

An eight-page brochure introducing the riders with profiles and pictures from 1946 can fetch up to £25 in auctions It was printed by the Melton Mowbray Times Company

1946:- Northern League promoted by Arthur Atkinson, Stan Greatrex & Harry Whitfield
Attendances totalled 263,925 (Stenners Speedway Annual 1946)
Track Record Holder: Frank Hodgson (Middlesbrough) 71.4

Arthur Atkinson together with Stan Greatrex promoted at West Ham.  Lancastrian by birth he made his speedway debut at Leeds long gone Fullerton Park in 1930 which was situated less than half a mile from Elland Road.  He had a brief spell with Wembley and then joined West Ham where he rode alongside 'Bluey' Wilkinson and Eric Chitty.

1947/48:- National League Second Division promoted by Arthur Atkinson, Stan Greatrex & Harry Whitfield
Middlesbrough's all-time record crowd at Cleveland Park occurred in 1948 when Sheffield Tigers were the opening night visitors.  A crowd of 15,906 were present.

1946 League Table

1947 League Table

1948 League Table