Presentation of the 2016 ”Team Norick”.

On Friday 4th March, a presentation was held for Team Norick 2016 at the main office of RiverCrane Corporation located in Setagaya-ku Tokyo. Team head coach is Mitsuo Abe.

The project is formed by two teams, ”Webike Team Norick YAMAHA” which members mainly from last year will be participating in Japan Championships and local championships and ”YAMAHA Thailand Team Norick”, a team of two Thai Racers that will participate in Asian Championships and local championships scheduled to be held this year.

Head coach, Abe started his career as a professional two-wheel racer in 1967 and made spectacular success in winning top awards in the Japan Championship, three times before his retirement in 2015. Abe is also well known as the father of professional two-wheel racer, Norifumi Abe (also known as Norick).

Along with his glamorous success in the Japan Championship, Abe taught Norick to ride at the age of five and raised him to become a champion in the World Championships. Abe and Norick established Team Norick in 2006, and since he has been playing the role of both head coach and trainer. After the loss of Norick, Abe has continued to train riders to become world-class based on Noricks will.

Speech by Head Coach Mitsuo Abe

From our team, Takumi Kamiwada (second year) and Yuuki Okamoto, 16 year old rookie will be aiming to win the J-GP2 All Japan Road Race Championship this year. It’s going to be a hard challenge because many young riders will be participating and capabilities are increasing every year. But we’re challenging it.

I’m sure Kamiwada will be successful. I can see it from the results he has achieved in the championships last year and from the training he’s been going through during the off season. Okamoto compares favorably to Kamiwada and I’m really looking forward to his dramatic progress this year.

Miu Nakahara started riding a 250cc class model last year and will participate in JP250, a joint event of the All Japan Road Race Championship this year. At first she was timid but it didn’t take time for her to adapt to the new machine. Miu has the capability of a grown up man. This year she’ll be challenging the championships with better performance than last year.

13 year old Keito Abe loves riding. He’s an excellent rider for his age and has a great future coming ahead. This year he’ll be participating in local championships S80 and GP-MONO.

Team Norick’s New Training Project, ”YAMAHA Thailand Team Norick”.

‘Team Norick” is making a new attempt. It has established ”YAMAHA Thailand Team Norick” with two brilliant young riders from Thailand. Thailand Team Norick will be training in Japan to become MotoGp racers in the future.

Although the team is named, ”YAMAHA Thailand Team Norick”, Webike is supporting us with great help. 17 year old Peerapong Boonlert has experience in the Asian Championship and Thailand Championship with YZF-R25 and YZF-R3. 16 year old Keminth Kubo is half Japanese with Japanese father.

The two Thai racers have already started training and their records at Tsukuba Circuit with ST600 is a minute a lap. But they’ll surely shorten this in no time.

For a start, they will be participating in ST600 Local Championship, moving on to two to three races in the Asian Championships and finally will challenge the SUZUKA 4 hours Endurance Race.

All racers in both teams are highly talented and I’m excited myself for the results we’ll be getting.

We appreciate your support.

Speech by RiverCrane Corporation CEO, Koki Shinano

Webike Team Norick YAMAHA launched in 2010 and Kouta Nozane won the J-GP2 Championships in 2013. He is by the way making progress at the YAMAHA Team at the moment.

Last year the team further expanded. I’m profound that the project, to train young racers so they can stand on their own as racers with world-class talent is in successful progress.

Together we will continue to do our best for the team management and to rejuvenate the motorcycle sport field. We greatly appreciate your support.

Racers of Webike Team Norick YAMAHA

Takumi Kamiwada
Born: 3rd July 1996/Age: 19 Years Old/Hometown: Tokyo
Will be fully participating in J-GP2 All Japan Road Race Championship 2016

Yuuki Okamoto
Born: 23rd July 1999/Age: 16 Years Old/Hometown: Saitama
Will be fully participating in J-GP2 All Japan Road Race Championship 2016

Miu Nakahara
Born: 22nd November 2001/Age: 14 Years Old/Hometown: Kanagawa
Will be participating in JP250 Local Championship 2016

Keito Abe
Born: 13th September 2003/Age: 12 Years Old/Hometown: Tokyo
Will be participating in S80/GP-MONO Local Championship 2016

Racers of YAMAHA Thailand Team Norick

Peerapong Boonlert
17 Years Old
Will be participating in ST600 Local Championship 2016

Keminth Kubo
16 Years Old
Will be participating in ST600 Local Championship 2016

Don’t miss out on Team Norick 2016 and Abe Coach who is inheriting Norick’s will to train young riders.