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..in a street crash in Japan. A truck did an illegal u-turn in front of him.

according to superbikeplanet.com he was riding a two-wheeler of some kind when the truck turned in front and he hit it. Same type of accident as killed Mike Hailwood. :sad

A loss of a great rider... famous for battling Mick Doohan and others in the 1990s in GP, most recently raced World Superbike last year and in Japan this year.

That little piece of news just left me flattened. He was an inspiration. I still remember his Wild Card race in 1994... I was on the edge of my seat, nearly falling off it, and reckoned I'd seen the start of the career of one of the best riders in world history. In the end it didn't pan out for him, and he won't be remembered in the same way as Rainey, Doohan, Scwantz, Kocinski, Rossi, but he was really something special on a bike, in his day he did what Elias is doing today, putting the cat among the pidgeons, and making the sport that much more exciting for it.

I read Rossi's autobiography last year and he talks of Norifumi in the first chapters, he even has his name on his gear to bring him luck.

32 years old, down, maybe not so lucky, but blessed nontheless, and definately not forgotten.

Very sad news indeed,

I was sitting in a chinese resturant in Phillip island with a few people on the Sunday night following the 97 or 98 GP.

In the back corner was a group of Japaneese with their Yamaha gear on. I didn't notice him at first, but Abe san was sitting at the table,

We sent over a few drinks for him, accepting them with a big grin. On his way out he came over and shook our hand and thanked us again for the drinks, asking us in broken english if we enjoyed the race,

then honoring us with a bow of thanks as he walked out the door

RIP Abe san, thanks for the ride

stan

A tragic end to a brilliant life. :sad

RIP

abe is one of my favorites and will continue to be. he was doing well this year back in the all japan series, shame he never got on with the four stroke gp machines.