Roland R-World Online | Fall 2007

SOLJET GRAPHICS GIVE TEAM ALSTARE THAT WINNING EDGE

ALLEUR, BELGIUM – Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra is one of the most famous racing teams in the history of motorsports. And one of the most impressive looking, thanks to Roland SOLJET technology.

Although the team’s main focus on the track is the Superbike World Championship, it also competes in the European Superstock 1000 Championship and organizes the Suzuki GSX-R European Cup, a championship aimed at discovering the stars of tomorrow.

A number of top stars are currently on the team ’s roster, and the results from the first few races reflect their extraordinary talent.

In 2007, Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra signed motorsports icon Max Biaggi for the season. Biaggi, better known as the “Roman Emperor,” has since racked up two wins and 12 podiums. He is currently ranked third in the World Superbike Championship standings, competing with the likes of Troy Bayliss, James Toseland, Noriyuki Haga and others before huge numbers of excited fans. In fact, more than 115,000 fans cheered him on in Monza, 126,000 at Brands Hatch, and advance tickets for the Vallelunga round are already sold out!

Japanese rider Yukio Kagayama, Max's teammate, began the 2007 season with some problems to overcome. He was seriously injured in a crash at Donington (UK) earlier in the year and has taken time to heal. He’s back on track now and has recently shown that he's stronger than ever. At the moment, he is in tenth place with two podiums.

Though Kagayama will not be a title contender this year, this will not stop him from going all-out in the remaining races. The title will likely be decided only in the final round – and maybe even the last race – of the championship in Magny-Cours.

Other team stars are rising in the rankings as well. The European Superstock 1000 championship is well known for epic on-track battles between its young riders. Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Xavier Simeon is only sixteen points behind the leader in this series, and with three races remaining, the title is well within his grasp.

But what makes Alstare so famous in the motorsports world is not only its on-track success, but also the unique visuals that make up the team ’s identity. It is very highly regarded for its innovative use of graphics which has prompted many other sports teams to follow suit. The fans like the team designs so much that replicas of Alstare bikes can be seen in every country.

The inspiration behind the team ’s image is the in-house graphics department which produces all team graphics from design through final production.

To empower this creativity, Alstare employs a high-speed SOLJET PRO III XC-540 printer/cutter, which has dramatically increased productivity within the graphics department. All racing bikes, the team ’s 12 truck trailers, a hospitality unit, and other team vehicles today sport SOLJET graphics. Additionally, everything is printed on Roland media to ensure optimum quality and reliability.

In the world of motorsports – and graphics - figures speaks for themselves: about 2,000 meters of adhesive-back vinyl and 1,000 meters of banner media were printed using Roland technology from the start of this season alone. And the XC-540 continues to prove it’s up to the challenge - delivering the high-speed and performance required to keep Alstare’s image on the fast track.