Norifumi Abe

Norifumi "Norick" Abe (阿部典史, Abe Norifumi, September 7, 1975 – October 7, 2007),^[1]^[2] or Norick Abe (ノリック・アベ) was a Japanese motorcycle road racer who was previously a 500 cc/MotoGP rider.^[3] He died in a road traffic accident.

Biography

Abe was born to Mitsuo Abe (阿部光雄, Abe Mitsuo), an Auto Race rider, in Tokyo. When he was eleven, Abe began racing minibikes and spent his earlier career competing in motocross. He turned to road racing when he was fifteen and also competed in the United States. In 1992, Abe was the runner up in the 250 cc category for the domestic National A championship.^[4] The following year at the All Japan Road Race Championship, Abe won the 500 cc title in the category's final year and became the youngest title winner.^[4]

In 1994, while racing in his home championship, Abe had a chance to race at the 1994 Japanese Grand Prix as a "wild card". He shocked the field by challenging for the win until three laps from the finish before falling off.^[4] Abe's performance impressed Kenny Roberts's Yamaha team, and was offered two more rides that year which yielded two 6th places and earned him a full-time Grand Prix ride for the 1995 season.^[3] This performance also so impressed a 14-year-old Valentino Rossi, that he took on the nickname "Rossifumi" and used it in his early career in deference to such a committed and spectacular racer.

Abe took his first podium finish in 1995, and his first win and 5th overall in the championship a year later.^[3] His team in 1997 was run by another former champion, Wayne Rainey, and Abe took regular points finishes over the next two seasons, including four podiums.^[3] He joined the d'Antin Antena 3 team in 1999, won at Rio de Janeiro that year, and won again at Suzuka a year later.^[3] Abe spent two seasons on less competitive machinery, yet his race results ensured his 100% record of top 10 championship finishes continued.

However, 2002 was the first year of MotoGP regulations, and Abe did not get on well with the four-stroke machinery. As such, when D'Antin switched over to the Yamaha YZR-M1 for 2003, Abe left the team and acted as a factory test rider and occasional wild card racer for Yamaha. He got another chance on the Tech 3 Yamaha team for 2004, but was unsuccessful, and was moved to Yamaha's returning Superbike World Championship squad for 2005. Despite having less factory support than Noriyuki Haga and Andrew Pitt, Abe finished in the championship top 10. In 2006 he was less competitive, failing to score a podium.^[5]

In 2007, Abe competed in the All Japan Superbike Championship, again on a Yamaha.^[4]

Death

On October 7, 2007 while riding a 500 cc Yamaha T-Max scooter in Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Abe was involved in a traffic accident with a truck, which made an illegal U-turn in front of him, at 6:20pm local time. He was pronounced dead two and a half hours later at 8:50pm at the hospital where he was taken for treatment.^[1]^[6]

Grand Prix career statistics^[3]

Position	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Points	25	20	16	13	11	10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Class	Team	Machine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Points	Rank	Wins
1994	500cc	Mister Yumcha Blue Fox-Honda	NSR500	AUS -	MAL -	JPN NC	ESP -	AUT -	GER -	NED -	ITA -	FRA -	GBR -							20	17th	0
1994	500cc	Roberts Marlboro-Yamaha	YZR500											CZE 6	USA 6	ARG -	EUR -			20	17th	0
1995	500cc	Roberts Marlboro-Yamaha	YZR500	AUS 9	MAL NC	JPN 9	ESP 4	GER 8	ITA 6	NED 6	FRA NC	GBR 18	CZE NC	BRA 3	ARG 6	EUR NC				81	9th	0
1996	500cc	Roberts Marlboro-Yamaha	YZR500	MAL 8	INA 9	JPN 1	ESP NC	ITA 11	FRA 4	NED 6	GER 6	GBR 3	AUT 3	CZE 11	IMO 5	CAT 10	BRA 3	AUS NC		148	5th	1
1997	500cc	Rainey Marlboro-Yamaha	YZR500	MAL 8	JPN 7	ESP 7	ITA 7	AUT 9	FRA 7	NED 10	IMO 7	GER NC	BRA 5	GBR 9	CZE 5	CAT 12	INA 5	AUS 3		126	7th	0
1998	500cc	Rainey Marlboro-Yamaha	YZR500	JPN 14	MAL NC	ESP 6	ITA 6	FRA 7	MAD 2	NED NC	GBR 3	GER NC	CZE 5	IMO 6	CAT 3	AUS 5	ARG 4			128	6th	0
1999	500cc	d'Antin Antena 3-Yamaha	YZR500	MAL NC	JPN 3	ESP 5	FRA 6	ITA NC	CAT NC	NED 6	GBR 6	GER 3	CZE NC	IMO 11	VAL 6	AUS 16	RSA 9	BRA 1	ARG 3	136	6th	1
2000	500cc	d'Antin Antena 3-Yamaha	YZR500	RSA 7	MAL 17	JPN 1	ESP NC	FRA 2	ITA 5	CAT 2	NED 10	GBR 6	GER 11	CZE NC	POR 9	VAL NC	BRA 4	PAC 5	AUS 6	147	8th	1
2001	500cc	d'Antin Antena 3-Yamaha	YZR500	JPN 4	RSA 5	ESP 2	FRA 4	ITA 9	CAT 6	NED NC	GBR NC	GER 4	CZE 4	POR NC	VAL 8	PAC 4	AUS 13	MAL 13	BRA 6	137	7th	0
2002	MotoGP	d'Antin Antena 3-Yamaha	YZR500	JPN 5	RSA 7	ESP 6	FRA 4	ITA 7	CAT 16	NED 9	GBR 4	GER 6	CZE 8	POR 7	BRA 6	PAC 8	MAL 10			129	6th	0
2002	MotoGP	d'Antin Antena 3-Yamaha	YZR-M1															AUS INJ	VAL 10	129	6th	0
2003	MotoGP	Fortuna-Yamaha	YZR-M1	JPN 11	RSA 8	ESP -													VAL 9	31	16th	0
2003	MotoGP	Yamaha	YZR-M1				FRA 11	ITA -	CAT -	NED -	GBR -	GER 10	CZE -	POR -	BRA -	PAC -	MAL -	AUS -		31	16th	0
2004	MotoGP	Gauloises Fortuna -Yamaha Tech 3	YZR-M1	RSA 9	ESP 11	FRA NC	ITA 7	CAT 9	NED 11	BRA 8	GER NC	GBR NC	CZE 8	POR 10	JPN NC	QAT 7	MAL 12	AUS 17	VAL 10	74	13th	0

References

1 2 "'Legendary rider’ Norick Abe dies in motorbike, truck collision". Japan News Review. Retrieved 2007-10-08.
↑ "FIM Release On Norick Abe". SuperbikePlanet.com. Retrieved 2007-10-08.
1 2 3 4 5 6 Norifume Abe career statistics at MotoGP.com
1 2 3 4 Norifumi Abe profile at www.f1network.net
↑ Norifume Abe World Superbike career statistics at worldsbk.com
↑ "Yamaha Release On Norick Abe's Death". SuperbikePlanet.com. Retrieved 2007-10-08.

External links

NorickAbe.com - Official site
Norick Abe at the F1 Network
Norick Abe's funeral images at SuperbikePlanet.com

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