Henry Whitfield (9 May 1908 - 14 September 1988) was a British

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

rider who went on to manage

Middlesbrough Bears The Middlesbrough Bears were a British speedway team which operated under various names from 1929 until their closure in 1996. History Origins and 1920s Speedway arrived in Middlesbrough during 1928 when an attendance of 15,000 turned up f ...

. He earned one international caps for the England national speedway team.

Career

Originally from

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

, Whitfield was one of the top British riders of the early 1930s, riding for Wembley Lions and also for the England national team, competing in the Test series against Australia in 1931.Morgan, Tom (1947) ''The People Speedway Guide'', Odhams Press, p. 73, 83 He was one of the first British riders to challenge the dominance of Australian riders. He was also one of the first riders recognised as developing team riding (where both riders attempt to hold the front of the race together), forming a successful partnership with George Greenwood. He won the Scottish Championship in 1930 and an unofficial World Championship event at the Sydney Showground Speedway in Australia on 4 March 1933. Whitfield had earlier won the first qualifying round for the 1933 Final at the Claremont Speedway in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, Western Australia on 3 December 1932. All four qualifying rounds were held in Australia. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, while serving with the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

in North Africa, he created makeshift tracks in the desert with petrol tins as crash barriers and organised racing with dispatch riders. This led to meetings being held in the Trani Stadium, in South-Eastern Italy in 1944 and 1945. After the war, Whitfield became manager of the Middlesbrough Bears, leading them to the Northern League title in 1946.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitfield, Harry British speedway riders English motorcycle racers Wembley Lions riders Harringay Racers riders Sheffield Tigers riders 1908 births 1988 deaths 20th-century English sportsmen