Hidenobu Takeuchi, photographer: "Norick was the best subject for me because he was so innocent and unpredictable.

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.

⚫︎ Photo: Hidenobu Takeuchi (Snapshot at WGP, 1998)

Had a sense of affinity from the beginning

Since I was mainly shooting the World Road Race Championship (WGP), I had no opportunity to watch the All-Japan Road Race, and the first time I saw Norick race was at the 1994 Japan GP, where he was competing as a wild card. I had heard about him from my cameraman friend Teppei (Shogo Nakao) for a long time, and I had a sense of familiarity with him because he often talked about interesting riders and the name "Norick," which Teppei had given him to be "friendly to people overseas and easy to call. So that GP at that time was like finally meeting a rider I knew well. Norick soon seized the opportunity and came to the WGP. I consider him as Norick with familiarity, but for him, it was almost the first time we met. But there are no barriers.... He was very close to me from the beginning, and created an atmosphere as if we were old and close acquaintances.It wasn't that he was special; it was like that to everyone. Even when a familiar person called out to him, "Norick~," he immediately broke the ice by saying, "Ah, hi, I'm Abe. If it had been me, I would have asked "Who are you? I would ask, "We've never met before, right?" But Norick was not like that.

The Porsche I went to buy with cash

I went out to buy a Porsche at a local dealership and said, "Please give me this. When I told him to pay in cash, he handed me a pamphlet and turned me away, saying, "Next time, come with your father.Even back then, a Porsche cost 12-13 million yen, so it was understandable that he would turn away a teenager who came to buy one with cash. The man in question, Norick, took it as a sign that he couldn't buy it out of the blue, and went home without getting angry. Later, the dealer man who realized from the name he had left on the list that he was a famous rider contacted us in a hurry, and we were able to purchase the car without incident.In that Porsche, he used to rent out the Nishi-Sendai Highland in Miyagi Prefecture with Shinichi Ito and Tadayuki Okada. I like fast rides, and I genuinely want to go fast. I think the reason I flipped the rental car and crashed during the Malaysian test was that I just got carried away with playing with it, without any concept that it was a rental car and I shouldn't push it or anything like that.The Porsche he bought that way was totaled when a tire burst on the highway on the way back from winning the 1996 Japanese Grand Prix. Norick's episodes were all fancy or beyond imagination.For an interview, I once visited Norick's training room that he had built in Tokyo. He had set up an environment for himself where he could constantly train his body, and I think he had all the equipment you would find in a sports gym.Also, and this was under the guidance of his father, Mitsuo, Norick flew business class from the time he was a nobody. As an athlete, his first priority was to rest his body, but Mitsuo-san often found himself in the same economy class as us and would say, "Hey, that's Nori-Pa. I think he was making a choice as an athlete, not because of money.

The most memorable race was the Brazilian GP

The most memorable race for me was the 1999 Brazilian GP at the Nelson Piquet Circuit. The course, a combination of long straights and tight corners, offers many highlights with its speed, intense braking, and acceleration on exits. The course has a series of hairpins and 90-degree corners, and the repetition of stopping, bending, and starting up makes it difficult to get into a rhythm, but Norick's slide run was a perfect fit.Norick qualified 12th. He jumped out of the start andfought for the lead withKenny Roberts Jr. andMax Biaggi, and in the end, it was a duel between Norick on the YZR500 and Biaggi on the NSR500. The braking battle, the exiting acceleration, and the line-up were all on the edge of the pack. The battle came down to the final corner, where Norick won by a blink of an eye, 0.161 seconds, with his aggressive riding at full throttle on the slide.I think that was the first and last time in my long career in the WGP that my voice came out while I was filming at the trackside. I am the type of person who works calmly and quietly, but at that time I forgot to film and waved my hands in the air in support of the team.I came to my senses and continued shooting, but it was such an exciting battle that I wanted to throw my camera away, and Iwas lucky enough to be there, trackside, to experience one of the most memorable races in WGP history.I was a great subject both on and off the track. I had long hair, so the hair coming out of my helmet was very unique. One of the most memorable styles was dreadlocks in a ponytail with a thin line above the ear. It would not be unusual now, but at that time it was novel, and it suited him. He was always a challenger in the races, but I think it was the same with his fashion and his hair.

What lingers in my ears are the words "Why not?

Back then, I was going out to cover tests, and after Cycle Sounds, I was also shooting for Riding Sports and Tokyo Chunichi Sports, so I was often working with reporter Satoshi Endo, who covered Norick. Sometimes we would have dinner together as part of that process.Whenever a negative topic came up, such as "This is impossible," or "It can't be done," Norick would ask, "Why can't you do it? Why can't you do it ?Norick would often ask, "Why can't you do it? I think he thought there was nothing he couldn't do, and that he should do what he wanted to do, regardless of adult circumstances or common sense.Even now, when I run into a problem, I think of Norick's words at that time. Just try to do your best so that you can do it, and you won't be no good. Norick was bright, positive, naive, and extremely cool.After going from WGP to World Superbike, Norick came back to All-Japan in 2007, but I had the feeling that he was something different. He looked good in the world's most prestigious class.More than anything, he was a rider with a mysterious charm that made every moment a picture.Every time I clicked the shutter, I was excited to see what he would do next.Each moment has never faded away.Image Gallery (4)