WATANABE 6TH AT SUZUKA SUPERBIKE
26 September 2005 - Suzuki Racing

Team Yoshimura Suzuki''s Atsushi Watanabe and MotoGP development rider Kousuke Akiyoshi raced to sixth and eighth positions in today''s sixth-round Japanese Superbike Championship round at Suzuka.

The GSX-R1000-mounted pair led the opening lap but Akiyoshi struggled with rear brake problems three laps in and couldn''t maintain his earlier pace. Watanabe suffered with strong track winds at mid-race distance and was unable to stay with the leading pack.

Said Akiyoshi: ''I lost my rear brake pad after three laps so I didn''t have the same control of my GSX-R1000. But the bike and the Dunlop tyres were good. I enjoyed the race very much and I would like to do some more. Thank you to Suzuki Motor Corporation and Yoshimura for making this possible.''

Suzuki Race Group leader Masato Imada said: ''I watched Akiyoshi this weekend and he did a very good job despite his brake troubles. The result is not so important - what is important is that he finished his first race in seven years. At this moment though, Akiyoshi''s future schedule isn''t decided.''

SUPERBIKE RESULTS:

1 Shin-Ichi Ito (Honda), 2 Tatsuya Yamaguchi (Honda), 3 Takeshi Tsujimura (Honda), 4 Naoki Matsudo (Moriwaki Honda), 5 Osamu Deguchi (Honda), 6 Atsushi Watanabe (Yoshimura Suzuki), 7 Cho jun Kameya (Honda), 8 Kousuke Akiyoshi (Yoshimura Suzuki), 9 Akira Yanagawa (Kawasaki), 10 Yoshiteru Konishi (Honda).

Report and photo: Hiro Nakamura.

www.suzuki-racing.com

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