Former GP rider Toru Ukawa: "When I hear the name Abe, the first thing I remember is fighting.

Norifumi Abe, a.k.a. Norick, dreamed of becoming a professional rider and honed his skills at Circuit Akigase before venturing off to train in the United States. He became the youngest ever All-Japan Road Race Champion and made his debut in the World Road Race Championship, aiming to become the champion in the highest class.Always looking forward, he opened up his life as a rider with his face up, and his overwhelming aura and dazzling smile won the hearts of his fans.From Norick's childhood, to his friends at Circuit Akigase, to the All Japan Road Race and World Road Race Championships, the people he met at each of the places where he worked so hard to make a difference in the lives of others have shared their memories of him.

Suddenly, he's in the GP500, and you wonder what it's like...

I have known Norifumi Abe since 1992, when he was riding in the regional races. When I saw how he drove, I thought, "Wow, he's got an amazing riding style. I thought, "How can he get a time with such a style of driving? I remember I was surprised because he was so crazy that I wondered if he could make times that way, but he did.I was even more surprised when I heard that I would be competing in the GP500 when the next season started. I worked my way up through Novice and Junior, and in 1992 I was promoted to International Class A. I joined Honda Works and raced in GP250. When Norick entered the All-Japan GP500 in 1993, it was his second year in GP250.For me, being a GP500 rider was something to aspire to, a world that was a little out of reach. I think everyone wanted to be a GP500 rider someday. Even I, who belonged to Honda, was not allowed to ride in the tests.... It was a really special machine and a special pinnacle class.At that time, Honda had Daryl Beattie and Satoshi Tsujimoto, Yamaha had Yoshihiko Fujiwara and Toshihiko Homma, and Abe was just racing in the regional races. I think many people looked at him and said, "If you can ride, try it," feeling a little mean-spirited. At least, I was wondering what it would be like.But I got on easily and became a champion.

Japanese rider who won the 1994 Japanese GP

Then came the Japanese GP in 1994 as a wild card entry. 1993 saw Shinichi Ito in the GP500, Tadayuki Okada and Tetsuya Harada in the GP250, and Nobuatsu Aoki in the GP125 class of the road racing World Championship (WGP) under the All-Japan concept, and he also competed in the world. There were Japanese riders.So the 1994 Japan GP was a very spirited battle, both for the full WGP teams and the wild card teams. I wanted to have a chance to go to the world.InGP125, Takeshi Tsujimura won, Kazuto Sakata was 2nd, and Hideyuki Nakashiro, a wild card entry, was 3rd,so Japanese riders dominated the podium.500 was won by Kevin Schwantz, with Mick Doohan in 2nd and Mr. Ito in 3rd.But the news from the Japanese GP was all about Abe, who crashed out of the race after fighting for the lead. It was frustrating, but it meant that he had won with such a strong impression more than anyone else, with such an impact that the successes of the other Japanese drivers became a blur.And then, in the middle of the year, he entered the WGP. And in the middle of that year, he entered the WGP with the top team, Marlboro Yamaha Roberts. I didn't understand what it meant.I was allowed to participate in the WGP in 1996, rode in the GP500 in 2001, and then in MotoGP in 2002 and continued to race until 2005.Although I raced in the same class as Abe, we did not directly interact with each other, so I do not have much of an impression of our races. We were often in the paddock or in each other's motorhomes, so we had surprisingly little contact with each other.

A time when riders were flamboyant and playful

Still, it was customary to go out for drinks with fellow riders when we returned to Japan. I could hardly drink at that time, and I was the driver.So all I did was to mediate in fights.Abe is a stubborn rider who never bends his opinion.Heis stubborn and never bends his own opinion. I had no idea why he did that, but he really did not break easily when there was a conflict of opinions. When they were on the verge of hitting each other, everyone would say, "Oh well," and stop them. That is why when I hear the name Abe, the first thing I remember is "fighting.Those days seemed to be a glamorous time, with the press conference and launch of the Japanese GP being held at Belfarre (one of the largest clubs in Japan equipped with a huge LED vision and cutting-edge sound). We used to get together a lot, even though we would fight at the end.Abe would go buy a Porsche as soon as he got his contract money, and after that it would be a Ferrari. He was also very careful about his clothes, wearing vintage denim that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. He was like a person from another dimension, living in the world of dramas and novels. Although the image is a little different, he is like the hero of "Dirty Hero" (written by Haruhiko Oyabu. (based on Haruhiko Oyabu's novel about a genius rider), he fulfilled his dreams one after another.I retired at the age of 32 and chose to become a company employee.I don't think Abe would have considered such an option. If he had lived, he would have remained the same, always going full throttle and surpassing the imagination of those around him.... I think so.Image Gallery (1)