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Sayonara Norifumi - san
Norifumi "Norick" Abe
1975 - 2007
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Motorradpilot "Norick" Abe bei Unfall getötet!
Kaum hat die Motorsportwelt den ersten Schock über den tragischen Tod von Ex-Rallye-Weltmeister Colin McRae einigermaßen verarbeitet, schon gibt es wieder Anlass zur Trauer: Norifumi "Norick" Abe, der ehemalige WM-Fahrer und dreifache Motorrad-Grand-Prix-Sieger, ist am Sonntag bei einem Verkehrsunfall ums Leben gekommen.
Abe war in der Stadt Kawasaki, Präfektur Kanagawa, mit seinem Privatmotorrad
ausgefahren. Der tragische Unfall passierte auf einer vierspurigen Stadtstraße,
als der japanische Superbike-Pilot einen Lastwagen überholen wollte, der
gesetzeswidrig zu wenden versuchte. Der Lastwagenfahrer erklärte später
gegenüber der Polizei, er habe bemerkt, dass er sich falsch eingeordnet hatte,
und dies korrigieren wollen.
Der Japaner war auch ein Vorbild für den jungen Valentino Rossi, dessen
Markenkollege er 2004 in der MotoGP-WM war. "Sein Fahrstil war schier
unglaublich", erinnert sich Rossi in seiner Biographie an den Suzuka-GP 1994,
den der Italiener als Teenager vor dem TV-Gerät verfolgte.
"Abe trug damals lange, glatte Haare und wirkte auch abseits der Piste wie ein
Held. Aber hauptsächlich war es sein Fahrstil, er fuhr einfach wie ein
Verrückter! Manchmal hielt er sich nur noch mit den Knien über dem Asphalt, weil
er das Motorrad schon zu stark eingelenkt hatte. Irgendwann hat die Lenkung
nicht mehr gewirkt und er ist hingefallen. Ich denke, dieses Rennen war das
beste und schnellste seines Lebens."
Rossi fährt fort: "Abe hat geraucht und an den unmöglichsten Stellen überholt."
Deswegen kreierte der junge Rossi auch in Anlehnung an Norifumi Abe seinen
Spitznamen "Rossifumi".
Abe feierte drei Grand-Prix-Siege im Rahmen der Motorrad-WM und kam bei seinen insgesamt 144 Starts auf 17 Podestplätze. Den letzten MotoGP-Lauf bestritt er 2004 in Valencia. Nach dem WM-Ausstieg war Abe in der japanischen Superbike-Meisterschaft engagiert. Nach dem Rückzug aus der Superbike-WM Ende 2006 kümmerte er sich nach zwei bescheidenen Jahren im Yamaha-France-Entwicklungsteam von Martial Garcia in seiner japanischen Heimat um sein eigenes Junior-Team, war weiter für Yamaha als Testpilot tätig und bestritt die Japanischen Superbike-Meisterschaft. Vor dem Meisterschafts-Finale lag Abe dort auf Rang drei.
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Japanese racer Norick Abe has died in Japan!
By Dan Moakes October 9 2007
There is sad news from Japan, as popular motorcycle racer Norifumi ‘Norick’
Abe has been killed in a road accident. The 32-year-old three-time 500cc Grand
Prix winner was hit by a truck that was making a U-turn yesterday, Sunday the
7th October. His will be a sad loss to those involved in the sport, and to his
many fans around the world. Norifumi Abe famously crashed out of his first Grand
Prix in the final laps, when the 18-year-old Suzuka wildcard was challenging the
leaders in the premier 500cc class. This spectacular race would give a foretaste
of the man’s time in GP racing, as viewers would get to see both the speed and
the crashes that his sometimes erratic riding would seem to guarantee. And yet
somehow Abe was also a consistent racer, and of course he was a winner at the
highest level.
That first GP in 1994 was on a Honda, but forever after he would be associated
with Yamaha, starting when he filled in for the injured Daryl Beattie later that
same year. Norick was a full-time YZR500 two-stroke rider from the beginning of
1995 through to almost the end of the 2002 season, when the new four-stroke
990cc M1 was finally available to most of the factory’s riders.
In those eight seasons, Norick was always in the top ten for the Moto Grand Prix
world championship, including sixth four times and fifth in 1996. That was the
year when he took his first victory, in his home race at Suzuka. He repeated the
feat in 2000, and in between won the Brazilian race during 1999. There were
fourteen more podium results in the same period and, with points in many other
races, he would score over 120 points in each of those years.
The switch over to the new MotoGP four-stroke era was not so kind to Norick,
although in retrospect there was only one man able to make the 990 YZR-M1 into a
regular race winning bike, or anything approaching that. Norick Abe was no
Valentino Rossi, and after 23 races on the M1, without a top six result, it was
off to pastures new as a Yamaha rider in World Superbikes. Production-based
four-strokes did not lead to a return of his two-stroke form, although of course
he still looked good on occasion, and he was back to front-running ways in the
Japanese series this year.
Noted at times for his flowing long hair, another eye-catching aspect of the man
in action was his extreme lean angle on the bike, which surely added to his
undoubted spectator appeal. Norick was always thereabouts during his GP career,
but was one of those riders who, on his day, could be a threat to anyone. He
will be missed by many in the world’s racing paddocks, and by fans everywhere.
