By Michele Lostia Monday, October 8th 2007, 08:45 GMT
Former MotoGP rider Norifume Abe was killed yesterday at the age of 32 in a road accident in Japan.
Abe, nicknamed Norick, reportedly crashed his bike against a lorry that was performing an illegal U-turn in the city of Kawasaki, in the Kanagawa prefecture.
The Japanese won three MotoGP races, two of which were his home Grand Prix, in a career that started as a Honda wild card at the 1994 Japanese GP and continued with 144 more races with Yamaha until 2004.
Abe was taking part in Japanese Superbikes this year after two years in World Superbikes, still with Yamaha.
