Before we can look at the origins of the sport in the North East of England, first we need to visit the other side of the world! Australia is where it all began. 

History Of Dirt Track Racing

The Origins Of The Sport – UK, USA Or Australia?

The origins of the sport are not entirely crystal clear but it is generally accepted that Australian farmers started it all.  They were racing their motorcycles around rough oval dirt tracks during the early 1920s.  Early motorcycle owners in the USA can tell a similar story but they did not have a man like Australia's Johnnie Hoskins who had a vision when he watched the farmers racing their motorcycles.

In 1923, Johnnie was the secretary of the West Maitland (New South Wales) Agricultural Show.  As a "side attraction" to the agricultural show, he introduced motorcycle racing on an oval dirt track under floodlights. Speedway had just been born!  From West Maitland it spread across Australia like wildfire.  Hoskins the entrepreneur was so keen on promoting the sport he had helped to invent that he soon had ambitions that lay outside Australia.  Pound signs were flashing, the UK was beckoning.

Above: West Maitland Showground track

Below: Commemorative Plaque

By 1927 Johnnie had set sail and arrived in Great Britain to introduce the spectacle of Dirt Track Racing to the unsuspecting British public.

UK Dirt Track Racing

Arguments rage amongst speedway’s historians, although most agree that “Dirt Track Racing” first took place in English Towns in the following order; Camberley, Droylsden and at High Beech.

Camberley in Surrey, staged racing on 7^th May 1927, although it bore little resemblance to speedway.  The “track” was mainly sand so this does not really qualify as a Dirt Track.
Droylsden near Manchester was next, 25th June 1927. This track was cinder covered (Cinders were a by-product of the local power station).  Cinder tracks became the norm at this time, presumably because cinders were cheap and in plentiful supply from Britain's heavy industries.  The Droylsden venture suffered from council objections.  It never “took off” as a venue.
High Beech in Epping Forest also attempted to stage racing in 1927 but their application for a license was refused until 1928.  The opening meeting at High Beech was staged on 19 February 1928 before an amazing crowd of 30,000 spectators.  It was a huge success and High Beech is considered  to be the birthplace of British Speedway.  Other British tracks got in on the act, they are too numerous to mention, ( I plan to list them all on my www.defunctspeedway.co.uk site one day!)

Newcastle's link with Australia the Tyne Bridge, under construction 1928

Dirt Track Racing On Tyneside

This totally novel form of entertainment immediately hooked a large section of the UK public and the North East didn’t lag far behind, with not one, nor two, nor three venues.  There were four! which opened on Tyneside!  The Burnhills Racetrack at Greenside staged motorcycle racing from 1928.  Whether this was "Speedway" is open to debate as the racetrack was more grass and dirt than cinder.  I am researching the Burnhills track and when I find out exactly what was happening there 75 years ago I will update these pages accordingly.  If you can help send me an e-mail. email

E-mail received from Jim Henry who says: Hi John I Was in Gateshead Library on Friday.  I think you can take Burnhills off the speedway list.  A reference in a March edition of one of the local papers advises that the  Newcastle motor cycle club will run again in 1930 despite losing a fair part of their crowds to the new speedways. Another paper records the track operating on a Sunday with the local church folk trying to get it closed and a bit of hard nosed policing when they charged 32 folk with having cars or motorcycles with having defective brakes (fined 10 shillings each.) Couldn't find anything for Houghton Le Spring in first half of 1930 before I ran out of time.

1928 predates any actual speedway on Tyneside and a glance at the names on the Burnhills programme reveal a number who became speedway riders. No 22 Harry Huntly for example became a well known rider at Newcastle Gosforth, W Bay and Brough Park.
Chris Sawyer says:   Hi  John, I found your site whilst researching my bike. On the Burnhills programme at #4 is Bill Martin who owned my 1928 Cotton and I wonder if there are any more records of him or the bike. Hoping you can help.  Regards Chris Sawyer.
Can anyone help Chris with his 1928 cotton John

So Burnhills was indeed a grass track with some element of motor crossing to it.  Here we have Harry Huntly on the left and Arnie Cattell inside.

Harry Huntly at Greenside

Harry Huntly at Greenside showing Burnhills was not a speedway track

Thanks go to "The Vast Collection/Ian Huntly" for supplying the site with pictures of his father at Greenside in 1928.  A lot of the Greenside riders became team mates at Brough, Gosforth and Whitley Bay speedway the following year.

The Newcastle Motor Racing Club Ltd applied to lay a track inside the recently built horseracing venue at, Brough Park, Byker. A rival company Tyneside Speedways Ltd., applied to use Newcastle’s Rugby Union ground in Gosforth Park and also the Rockcliffe Rugby Ground at Hillheads, Whitley Bay for dirt track racing.  These ventures had to wait until 1929 to stage their first race meetings.

1. First up was Whitley Bay. They staged their first Dirt Track racing on 20th April 1929.

2. The first ever Dirt Track meeting at Newcastle's Brough Park took place on 17th May 1929.

3. Then Newcastle's Gosforth Park opened it’s doors for Dirt Bikes on 1st June 1929.

The following newspaper article appeared in the Newcastle Evening chronicle

The newspaper article gave advice for motorcyclists who wanted to try their hands at dirt track racing, on converting their road bikes for the track.  I like the reference to "Making the bikes brakes ineffective".  I bet that raised a few eyebrows back in 1929!

Whitley Bay may have been the first to open but unfortunately they were the first to close too, although the Hillheads Stadium survives to this day as a Football Club.

Gosforth lasted until 1931 but by then it had played its part in establishing Newcastle upon Tyne, as a Dirt Track centre. It was left to Brough Park in Byker to entertain the "Geordie" speedway fans and “Brough” remains as the city’s only Speedway Track to this day.

Early programme cover pages from all three Tyneside tracks.  All very collectible items, Whitley Bay's Programme shows more imagination than the other two.  At three pence in “old money” they may well have been more affordable than any of today’s programmes (priced at £2.50). Here are a few more fine examples of old programme covers.

The programme images shown came from Derek Carruthers speedway swapshop site www.speedwayswapshop.co.uk Thank you for your permission to display them Derek.

Many Tyneside families have been formed by young people meeting at the speedway.  Now it is common to see grandparents, parents and young children at Brough Park, all enjoying a truly family orientated day out at the Speedway, so ask your family if they have any old programmes, photographs, badges etc.  Grandad might have stashed some away in the attic.  An old programme like these will be worth far more than 3d now!

Adverts from Friday 24th May 1929 Newcastle Evening Chronicle.
Brough Parks rival company Tyneside Speedways Ltd include here an insert in their Whitley Bay advert for the " Grand Opening" of Gosforth Speedway. 

To continue the history click here: Brough Park

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