RUST magazine: RUST#41

LATEST GEAR
Stuff
Book Club by
ISDE 1983 – BOGGED DOWN IN POWYS
by Paul Clipper
Paperback 102 pages with B&W photography
RRP: £7.92 / $9.99 (Amazon)
This is a modest little paperback, quite
small and given it’s probably 60%
photos then it’s no more than an
evening’s read. But if you’re of a certain
age and can remember back to 1983 (and
even Clipper, here, admits to struggling to
do that), then you’ll enjoy this little boghop
down memory lane.
For me, that was a year to remember. I was
riding trials at the time (Fantic 200), but my
sister’s boyfriend had just bought a brand
new Yamaha IT250 and in his company
– and by some good fortune – I got to ride
what was probably the first Honda XR200R
in the country (helping run it in – what
a beautiful bike it was too). I was avidly
reading Dirt Bike (which Clipper was editing
back then) and I was sure enduro was to be
my next big adventure. Only I was wrong,
I got sidetracked, totally falling in love with
road racing instead – another story. But that
was some period, I remember watching
Geraint Jones in his prime bossing his
Maico 490 across Welsh bogs, I remember
a young Paul Edmondson being a right
upstart, first on a wee Honda CR80, then a
CR125. Enduro then was a big sport, both
sides of the Atlantic.
Clipper’s book brings all this back, with
a twist – this being his American take on
the Welsh scene via the ISDE in Builth
Wells. In the UK we take it for granted
that Welsh terrain, when wet, is slick.
But the Americans analysed it, and their
conclusion – it was the sheep poo that
made it slick. Not the mud, the poo. They
could be right.
It’s interesting reading how the Yanks
saw everything, from struggling with
the British driving (left hand side of the
road), to breakfast B&B style (runny eggs),
through to dealing with the hectic pace of
a classic tight Welsh test. In all they didn’t
have a great week, but it was certainly one
they remembered.
This book doesn’t do much more
than that. There’s a slightly extended
contemporary introduction while the
balance is a reprint of Clipper’s magazine
report from back in ‘83. But it evokes fond
memories. And we can see the advances
that have come since. No hand guards
back then. No disc brakes for that matter.
The Bell Moto 3 was only just kick-starting
the enduro paddock transition into fullface
helmets. And photography back then
was on film (not digital) with no autofocus
and probably no motor wind. So grainy,
fuzzy images (especially given the murk of
near-winter in Wales) is what you get.
The results sheets at the back of the book
brings more memories. Jochi Sauer (now
product manager at KTM) won the 125 class.
Geraint Jones chased the legendary Sven
Erik Jonsson home in the 500s, while Arthur
Browning on a Yamaha XT/TT500 made
a mammoth effort to challenge Thomas
Gustavsson (who would become Husaberg/
Husky race chief) in the 500 four-strokes.
A simple little book. Nothing to get wildly
excited about. But one I’m very happy to
have sat on the bookshelf alongside my
‘Six Days – Wales 1983’ picture book by
Toshimitsu Sato. Jon Bentman
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