Nick Kemp to be inducted into the 2017 Hall of Fame

September 23, 2017

The Board of Directors of the Canadian Motorcycle Hall of Fame is pleased to announce another Member of the Class of 2017. Nick Kemp will be honoured at the 12th annual Induction Banquet and Reunion which takes place November 4th, 2017 at the Sheraton Toronto Airport Hotel.

Nick Kemp
Nick Kemp

Nick Kemp has been a mechanic and rider in a range of motorcycle events from road racing to hill climbers and drag bikes. As a builder and mechanic, he is known for innovation and craftsmanship in all forms of racing.

Nick is well known as team mechanic for the John Williams’ Pro Hillclimbing team and their accomp-lishments as World Champions are legendary. His mechanical innovations brought a multi cylinder Honda to professional Hill Climbing, fuel injected and running 100 proof nitro, resulted in over 200hp.

This feat, combined with his swing arm suspension, revolutionized the sport creating better times up the hills and resulting in 8 World Championships, 40 State Championships, 5 Grand Nationals and 10 Canadian National Championships. Other teams tried to redesign to keep pace with Nick’s ingenuity.

Nick was a trouble shooter for Honda Canada and earlier spent some time in Japan where he was on a first name basis with some of Honda’s leading engineers as well as many of the 60’s factory racers.

In 1983, Kemp built up a Benelli for Williams. The six cylinder machine is a CB500 look-alike with a couple of extra cylinders tacked on. With all his experience on Honda, its like 1 ½ times what he’s been used to working on. It uses pure nitro and takes 2 people to go through the starting process. The noise from its two massive megaphones is incredible and unforgettable.

The Chair of the Canadian Motorcycle Hall of Fame Board and all the Directors, are pleased and honoured to welcome Nick Kemp to the Class of 2017.