‘The Benoni Bomber’ gets season off to a bang

He goes by the nickname “The Benoni Bomber”, so it’s no surprise to see Northvilla’s Nicholas Kershaw exploding on the local national superbike racing scene, at SuperGP.

The 22-year-old, riding his Tsunami Beach Bar BMW S1000RR, finished third overall after placing second in the first race and fourth in the second race, at the first SuperGP race of the season, at the Phakisa Raceway on Saturday, March 21 – an impressive feat considering that Kershaw is a rookie in the 1 000cc class.

It’s been quite the ride for the St Dunstan’s College old boy to get to where he is today.

He started riding motorbikes at the age of seven and started racing competitively at the age of 13, in a class called “Derby Development”, in 2006.

A year later he became the champion of that class and also finished as the runner-up in the CBR 150cc Championship.

In 2008, the rider moved on to a new class The SV650 Cup, with both a regional and national championship.

Kershaw won both those championships and also won a brand new Suzuki GSXR 600.

In 2009 the Benonian was appointed as Aprilia South Africa’s RSV 1000 R factory rider, in the Battle of The Twins Championship, where he finished third overall

He then made a move to the regional and national 600cc class, in 2010, and won the regional championships.

He competed in the national 600cc class for four years and finished fourth overall in his last two years in the class.

In 2011, the rider also became the national rider for Kawasaki.

This year Kershaw decided that he needed a change and made the step up to the 1 000cc class at SuperGP.

“It was important to make the change, because I was basically stuck in a rut in 600s and needed something new,” he said.

“I think that my riding style is better suited to the 1 000cc class.

“You have to be extremely smooth on the bike and also extremely careful, because the bike makes a lot of power.”

When asked what his goal is in the sport, Kershaw replied: “Obviously I want to win the South African Championship and hopefully get some wild card entries internationally.”

His achievements in the sport are extra impressive, seeing as though he prepares his bike himself at his Farrarmere-based workshop, Racebike Rentals.

He added that the hardest part about riding super bikes is that it takes a lot of preparation and can be physically tough on the body.

“I basically spend nearly every day in the gym, doing a lot of cardio and core work.

“It’s also a tough game mentally, because you need to train your brain to be strong enough to overcome the high speeds you are doing.”

“The Benoni Bomber” will next be in action at the second round of SuperGP, at Zwartkops Raceway, in Pretoria, on Saturday, April 12, and he is calling on all local petrol heads to come on down to the track and show their support.