Norifumi Abe

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Norifumi Abe
Nationality Flag of Japan Japanese
Grand Prix motorcycle racing career
Active years 1994 - 2004
Teams Yamaha
Grands Prix 144
Championships None
Wins 3
Podium finishes    17
Pole positions 0
Fastest laps 1
First Grand Prix 1994 500 cc Japanese Grand Prix
First win 1996 500 cc Japanese Grand Prix
Last win 2000 500 cc Japanese Grand Prix
Last Grand Prix 2004 MotoGP Valencia Grand Prix


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

Contents

[edit] Biography

Abe was born to Mitsuo Abe (阿部 光雄), 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. 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.

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. Abe's performance impressed Kenny Roberts' 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. This performance also so impresses 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. 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. He joined the D'Antin team in 1999, won at Rio de Janeiro that year, and won again at Suzuka a year later. 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 World Superbike 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.

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

[edit] 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][3].

[edit] 500 cc/MotoGP career statistics [4]

Season Class Motorcycle Race Win Podium Pole FLap Pts Plcd
1994 500 cc Yamaha YZR500 3 0 0 0 0 20 17th
1995 500 cc Yamaha YZR500 13 0 1 0 0 81 9th
1996 500 cc Yamaha YZR500 15 1 4 0 1 148 5th
1997 500 cc Yamaha YZR500 15 0 1 0 0 126 7th
1998 500 cc Yamaha YZR500 14 0 3 0 0 128 6th
1999 500 cc Yamaha YZR500 16 1 4 0 0 136 6th
2000 500 cc Yamaha YZR500 16 1 3 0 0 147 8th
2001 500 cc Yamaha YZR500 16 0 1 0 0 137 7th
2002 MotoGP Yamaha YZR-M1 15 0 0 0 0 129 6th
2003 MotoGP Yamaha YZR-M1 5 0 0 0 0 31 16th
2004 MotoGP Yamaha YZR-M1 16 0 0 0 0 74 13th
Total 144 3 17 0 1 1157

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b "'Legendary rider’ Norick Abe dies in motorbike, truck collision", Japan News Review. Retrieved on 2007-10-08. 
  2. ^ "FIM Release On Norick Abe", SuperbikePlanet.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-08. 
  3. ^ "Yamaha Release On Norick Abe's Death", SuperbikePlanet.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-08. 
  4. ^ "Rider Statistics - Norick Abe", MotoGP.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-08. 

[edit] External links