Kousuke Akiyoshi

Kousuke Akiyoshi (秋吉耕佑, Akiyoshi Kōsuke, born January 12, 1975) is a motorcycle road racer from Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan. He is a two-time champion in the All-Japan Superbike Championship, and has competed sporadically in the MotoGP World Championship.
He is known in his native Japan as a competitor in the MFJ All Japan Road Race GP250 Championship, and most notably the All Japan Superbike championship, where he has enjoyed success with the Yoshimura Suzuki team riding a Suzuki GSX-R1000. In July 2007 he, along with Yukio Kagayama, won the Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race on a Yoshimura Suzuki bike.

National racing

Akiyoski made his début in the All Japan GP250 Championship in 1995, riding a Suzuki RGV250. He finished in 24th in his first season, before improving to 10th the following season. In 1997, Akiyoshi moved into the All Japan Superbike Championship – later the All Japan JSB1000 Championship – where he has spent the majority of his career. He won the championship in 2010 and 2011, riding a Honda CBR1000RR.

Grand Prix appearances

Akiyoshi has also competed in a number of Grands Prix of the MotoGP series. These have included The Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi, where he finished 13th on his debut with the Rizla Suzuki team as a wildcard rider, as well as two races in 2007 at Jerez and Japan. He came 17th at the Spanish race, and had a good run in Japan where he was running 7th behind Casey Stoner, but retired four laps from the finish. In 2008, he competed in the Japanese Grand Prix for a third year running, again for Rizla Suzuki. He retired on lap 1 after going down at the first corner.

In the 2010 season, Akiyoshi stood in for the injured Hiroshi Aoyama at the Interwetten Honda team. He competed in two races for the team, finishing 15th at the Dutch TT in Assen and 13th at the Catalan Grand Prix in Catalunya. He was then replaced by San Marinese rider Alex de Angelis. Akiyoshi replaced Aoyama once again at the Gresini Racing team for the 2011 Dutch TT, however not through injury, as Aoyama himself replaced the injured Dani Pedrosa at Repsol Honda. Akiyoshi also competed at the Japanese Grand Prix as a wildcard entry with LCR Honda – along with Shinichi Itoh, racing for HRC Honda – as a gesture of support for those affected by the March 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.

Races by year

(key)

Suzuka 8 Hours results

Year	Team	Co-Riders	Bike	Pos.
2011	F.C.C. TSR	Ryuichi Kiyonari Shinichi Ito	Honda CBR1000RRW	1st
2012	F.C.C. TSR	Tadayuki Okada Jonathan Rea	Honda CBR1000RRW	1st