Rumour: A currently circulating story or report of uncertain or doubtful truth.
Team ILR and Ian Lougher wish to dispel the comments made, and clarify a few points, in relation to the legality and cost of the Paton S1R twin machine following Joey Thompson's brilliant and stunning ride in Thursday evening's North-West 200 Supertwin race.
The comments surrounding the bike are not only an attack on the team, Joey Thompson and our valued sponsors, but also on the historical and distinguished Paton name itself.
Team ILR is one of the most respected race teams in the paddock, whether it be at British Superbikes, a road race, or any event for that matter.
The team has always acted with professionalism and integrity and would never, and have never, sought to gain an unfair advantage in any race they have come to the startline for.
It's a team ethos we are very proud of and one that our team owner-manager Ian Lougher has carried into the team from his own distinguished racing career.
Ian Lougher:
"Joey rode a great race at such a young age in only his second visit to the North West, dicing with much more experienced riders and leading for much of the time.
But as always when a young and new face arrives amongst the old guard there is always a little resentment.
There were some comments made by one of the other riders on the rostrum that the Paton "wasn't a proper twin machine."
Also there were comments made that "the machine costs £75,000 and if any one of the other riders were on this bike then they would have cleared off."
Firstly the S1R is a fully homologated machine and produced in Italy by the long established and well respected Paton company.
To be homologated they have had to produce a certain amount of bikes as a road machine, they achieved this in 2014, once they did this they produced a tuned engined version of the bike and raced it at the Isle of Man several times before finally winning the TT race with Michael Rutter in 2017.
As far as the cost of the bike is concerned, anyone can order and buy one for £35,000.
This sounds a lot of money, but bearing in mind that most of the top bikes in this class are already costing this sort of money and some of them have cost more.
We hope this clears up these matters, and wish Joey and everyone racing at the NW200 a safe and enjoyable days racing on Saturday."
Moto Paton SC-Project:
"Our bike, tuned for racing, is on sale at 35.000GBP, as everybody can see on Paton Official Website.
Should the organiser ask for technical inspection, Moto Paton/SC-Project company will be very happy to be given the chance to show everybody that our bike performance superiority is the result of our technicians skill and the excellent job made at Moto Paton through the year."
Team ILR Statement - NW200 Supertwin Race
![[Image: teamILRlogo.jpg]](http://www.ttwebsite.com/gifs/2018/general/teamILRlogo.jpg)