Norifumi "Norick" Abe is Dead

Norifumi Abe
Nationality	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 500cc Japanese Grand Prix
First win	1996 500cc Japanese Grand Prix
Last win	2000 500cc Japanese Grand Prix
Last Grand Prix	2004 MotoGP Valencia Grand Prix

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

Contents [hide] 1 Biography 2 500cc/MotoGP career statistics [3] 3 Death 4 References 5 External links

[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 motorcross. 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 250cc category for the domestic National A championship. The following year at the All Japan Road Race Championship, Abe won the 500cc 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 corners 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.

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] 500cc/MotoGP career statistics ^[3]

Season	Class	Motorcycle	Race	Win	Podium	Pole	FLap	Pts	Plcd
1994	500cc	Yamaha YZR500	3	0	0	0	0	20	17th
1995	500cc	Yamaha YZR500	13	0	1	0	0	81	9th
1996	500cc	Yamaha YZR500	15	1	4	0	1	148	5th
1997	500cc	Yamaha YZR500	15	0	1	0	0	126	7th
1998	500cc	Yamaha YZR500	14	0	3	0	0	128	6th
1999	500cc	Yamaha YZR500	16	1	4	0	0	136	6th
2000	500cc	Yamaha YZR500	16	1	3	0	0	147	8th
2001	500cc	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] Death

On October 7, 2007 while riding a 500cc 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][4].