Keisuke Takahashi vs Kozo Hoshino

The battle between Keisuke Takahashi and Kozo Hoshino is the thirty-ninth battle of Initial D.

Prior to the Battle
After the conquest of Saitama, Project D moves into Ibaraki, where they're greeted by Purple Shadow. Keisuke is matched up against Kozo Hoshino, a man known as "God Foot" due to his mastery of pedal work, who drives a mighty R34 Skyline GT-R. Keisuke's recently repaired and upgraded FD now sports an RE Amemiya body kit complete with fixed headlights and plenty of aero parts, and the two set up to duel in a hybrid match - half uphill, then turning a 180 around a cone, and back downhill.

During the Battle
The battle is kept close, as Keisuke was instructed by his brother to not get too close to Hoshino (telling him to keep a gap of seven seconds between him and Hoshino) and make the time up in the downhill due to the power difference (and also to save tires). Keisuke finally notices the Skyline as he races downhill and keeps up with him just before the very end of the round. As the second run began, Keisuke takes up the lead with Hoshino chasing. Halfway to the top God Foot tries to fake overtake Keisuke by coming parallel to him, to see how he would react, so that he can make up for the daring move to overtake him at the very top, which was coming side by side with Keisuke and turning at the cone at the exact same time Keisuke would, which forced the latter one, who was caught completely off guard to turn sideways widely, giving God Foot the lead while that puts Keisuke on the back foot into the downhill, but by that time the large GT-R's tires are heavily worn by then, compared to the lighter RX-7 who has managed to keep them intact. Hoshino fights bravely, even drifting the Skyline (which is considered impossible due to the ATTESA E-TS Pro system). Keisuke drifts along with him till he seizes his opportunity near the final corners, coming next to Hoshino outside the corner side by side. Keisuke with his superior grip keeps up the cornering while Hoshino due to his lack of grip encounters a fit of understeer that has him hit the FD on the rear side which makes Keisuke hit the guardrail for a bit, but manages to escape.

After the Battle
Keisuke arrives triumphantly with his hand raised out of the FD's open window. While the battle still should have gone into a 3rd round, Hoshino forfeits as he had used up all of the grip of his tires

Fourth Stage

 * Go Go Money (Friday Night Ver.) - Neo
 * Back On The Rocks - Mega NRG Man
 * So Fragile - Pamsy
 * Looka Bomba - Go 2
 * Rider Of The Sky - Ace

Battle Stage 2

 * Pride - Dave
 * Love For Money 2008 - Money Man
 * Back On The Rocks - Mega NRG Man

Arcade Stage 8 Infinity

 * Super Driver - Daniel

Arcade Stage 8 RivalSide Info
Story arc: Purple Shadow

Driver: Kozo Hoshino

Car: Nissan Skyline GT-R V-spec II Nür (BNR34)

Opponent: Keisuke Takahashi

Team: Project D

Car: Mazda RX-7 Type R (FD3S)

Mission: Use the Shortcut

1-ryu Condition: Use 3 Shortcuts

Cho 1-ryu Condition: Use 5 Shortcuts

Course: Tsukuba

Rule: Inbound

Start: Standing

Weather: Clear

Time of day: Night

Trivia

 * This is the first battle to use a song featured in a previous stage (Back on the Rocks, originally playing in most of the battles of Takeshi Nakazato), as well as the only battle featured in a Battle Stage OVA to reuse a song from the original stage it was in (again with Back on the Rocks).
 * One of the spectators who watched the match is m.o.v.e, a Japanese group known for doing the opening and ending themes of the series.
 * In the manga, this was the final battle with Purple Shadow, which is after the battle between Takumi and God Hand. However in the anime, its exact opposite, with Keisuke battling God Foot before Takumi battles with God Hand.