1980 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
The 1980 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 32nd F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship season.
Season summary
's Kenny Roberts claimed his third successive 500cc world championship in a season shortened by the cancellations of the Venezuelan and Austrian rounds. Randy Mamola took over at Suzuki from Barry Sheene. Kawasaki returned to the 500cc class with a monocoque, four cylinder bike for Kork Ballington. Honda soldiered on with its exotic four-stroke NR500 but began to realize it was at a disadvantage against its two-stroke opposition.There were only six rounds in the 350cc class that saw South Africa's Jon Ekerold, a true privateer, take the championship from the Kawasaki factory-sponsored Anton Mang. Mang would take the 250cc crown from defending champion Ballington while Pier Paolo Bianchi won the 125cc title. Eugenio Lazzarini won a tight battle from Swiss Stefan Dörflinger to take the 50cc championship by only 2 points.
1980 Grand Prix season calendar
The following Grands Prix were scheduled to take place in 1980:| Round | Date | Grand Prix | Circuit |
| 1 | 11 May |  Gran Premio delle Nazioni | Circuito Internazionale Santa Monica |
| 2 | 18 May |  Gran Premio de España | Circuito Permanente Del Jarama |
| 3 | 25 May |  Grand Prix de France Moto | Circuit Paul Ricard |
| 4 | 15 Jun |  Velika Nagrada Jugoslavije | Automotodrom Rijeka |
| 5 | 28 June |  Dutch TT Assen | TT Circuit Assen |
| 6 | 6 July |  Grand Prix of Belgium | Circuit Zolder |
| 7 | 27 July |  Finnish GP | Imatra Circuit |
| 8 | 10 August |  Marlboro British Grand Prix | Silverstone Circuit |
| 9 | 17 August |  Grand Prix ČSSR | Brno Circuit |
| 10 | 24 August |  Großer Preis von Deutschland | Nürburgring-Nordschleife |
Calendar changes
- The Venezuelan and Swedish Grand Prix was taken off the calendar due to financial problems.
- The Austrian Grand Prix, originally scheduled for April, was eventually cancelled due to snowy conditions on race week. It was the last Grand Prix to have all races cancelled until the 2018 British Grand Prix.
- The German Grand Prix was moved back, from 6 May to 24 August.
- The German Grand Prix moved from the Hockenheimring to the Nürburgring-Nordschleife.
- The French Grand Prix was moved forward, from 2 September to 25 May.
- The French Grand Prix moved from the Bugatti Circuit in Le Mans to the Paul Ricard circuit.
- The Belgian Grand Prix moved from the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps to the Circuit Zolder due to problems with the new track last year.
Results and standings
1980 Grand Prix season results
Participants
500cc participants
;Notes- * The 500cc did not participate in rounds 4 and 9 of the championship, the Yugoslav and Czechoslovak GPs.
- ** Katayama raced with the Suzuki for the first four races until the Honda was ready.
- *** Ballington missed some races due to an injury.
- **** Pons was killed in a racing accident at the British GP.
500cc riders' standings
Points are awarded to the top ten finishers. A rider has to finish the race to earn points.
| Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th |
| Points | 15 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Place | Rider | Team | Machine | NAT | ESP | FRA | NED | BEL | FIN | GBR | GER | Points |
| 1 |  Kenny Roberts | Yamaha International | YZR500 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Ret | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 87 |
| 2 | Randy Mamola | Heron-Suzuki | RG500 | Ret | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 72 |
| 3 | Marco Lucchinelli | Nava Gallina-Suzuki | RG500 | Ret | 2 | 3 | Ret | 2 | Ret | 3 | 1 | 59 |
| 4 | Franco Uncini | Uncini-Suzuki | RG500 | 2 | 7 | Ret | 3 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 50 |
| 5 | Graziano Rossi | Nava Gallina-Suzuki | RG500 | 3 | Ret | 4 | 2 | Ret | 13 | 4 | Ret | 38 |
| 6 | Wil Hartog | Riemersma Racing | RG500 | Ret | Ret | 19 | 5 | 1 | Ret | 3 | 31 | |
| 7 |  Johnny Cecotto | Venemotos-Yamaha | YZR500 | 4 | 6 | 9 | 6 | Ret | 5 | 6 | 31 | |
| 8 |  Graeme Crosby | Heron-Suzuki | RG500 | Ret | 12 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 13 | 2 | 29 | |
| 9 | Jack Middelburg | IMN-Yamaha | YZR500 | DNS | 15 | Ret | 1 | Ret | Ret | 9 | 8 | 20 |
| 10 |  Takazumi Katayama | Honda-HRC | RG500/NR500 | 6 | 4 | 6 | Ret | Ret | 15 | 12 | 18 | |
| 11 | Carlo Perugini | Team Gattina | RG500 | 5 | 10 | 13 | Ret | 7 | 7 | Ret | 9 | 17 |
| 12 |  Kork Ballington | Team Kawasaki | KR500 | Ret | 13 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 11 | 13 | ||
| 13 |  Philippe Coulon | Frankonia-Suzuki | RG500 | 9 | 8 | 16 | Ret | 11 | 8 | 8 | Ret | 11 |
| 14 |  Boet Van Dulmen | IMN-Yamaha | YZR500 | Ret | 18 | 19 | 4 | 9 | Ret | 16 | Ret | 10 |
| 15 | Barry Sheene | Akai-Yamaha | YZR500 | 7 | 5 | Ret | Ret | DNQ | Ret | 10 | ||
| 16 | Patrick Pons | Sonauto Gauloises-Yamaha | YZR500 | Ret | Ret | 10 | 10 | 8 | 6 | Ret | 10 | |
| 17 | Patrick Fernandez | Ecurie Ste Pernod | YZR500 | Ret | Ret | Ret | 7 | Ret | 14 | 4 | ||
| 18 | Michel Rougerie | Ecurie Ste Pernod | RG500 | DNQ | 11 | 7 | 14 | Ret | 15 | Ret | 4 | |
| 19 | Christian Estrosi | Team Furygan Suzuki | RG500 | 8 | 16 | Ret | Ret | DNQ | Ret | 3 | ||
| 20 | Henk De Vries | RG500 | 9 | DNQ | 25 | 2 | ||||||
| 21 | Sadao Asami | Yamaha International | YZR500 | Ret | Ret | 12 | DNQ | 15 | 9 | Ret | 15 | 2 |
| 22 | Michel Frutschi | Elf-Yamaha | YZR500 | Ret | 9 | 22 | Ret | DNQ | 18 | Ret | Ret | 2 |
| 23 | Raymond Roche | Sonauto Gauloises-Yamaha | YZR500 | Ret | DNQ | 11 | DNQ | 12 | 10 | 14 | 1 | |
| 24 | Gustav Reiner | Nava Kucera Racing Team | RG500 | DNQ | DNQ | Ret | 22 | 10 | 1 | |||
| 25 | Bernard Fau | GME Motul GPA | YZR500 | Ret | Ret | 15 | 10 | Ret | Ret | 1 | ||
| 26 | Dave Potter | Mitsui-Yamaha | YZR500 | 15 | DNQ | 10 | 1 | |||||
| 27 | Sergio Pellandini | RG500 | 10 | Ret | 21 | DNQ | DNQ | Ret | 1 | |||
| Maurizio Massimiani | YZR500 | 11 | 23 | 13 | 13 | 0 | ||||||
 Dale Singleton | YZR500 | DNQ | 18 | Ret | 11 | 16 | 0 | |||||
| Franck Gross | RG500 | 24 | Ret | 11 | DNQ | Ret | 0 | |||||
 Jeff Sayle | YZR500 | DNQ | DNQ | 11 | Ret | Ret | Ret | 0 | ||||
| Willem Zoet | RG500 | DNQ | 18 | 12 | 14 | Ret | 19 | Ret | 0 | |||
| Gianfranco Bonera | YZR500 | 12 | 17 | Ret | 0 | |||||||
 Lennart Bäckström | RG500 | 12 | 0 | |||||||||
| John Newbold | RG500 | 12 | 0 | |||||||||
| Markku Matikainen | YZR500 | DNQ | 19 | 20 | 13 | Ret | DNQ | 0 | ||||
| Guido Paci | RG500 | 13 | Ret | 0 | ||||||||
| Seppo Rossi | RG500 | DNQ | 14 | 14 | 16 | Ret | Ret | 23 | 0 | |||
| Stuart Avant | RG500 | DNQ | Ret | 14 | 0 | |||||||
| Richard Hubin | YZR500 | 14 | Ret | 0 | ||||||||
 Werner Nenning | RG500 | DNQ | Ret | DNQ | Ret | 16 | 23 | 18 | 0 | |||
 Mick Grant | RG500 | 16 | Ret | DNQ | 0 | |||||||
| Steve Parrish | RG500 | 17 | DNQ | 17 | 17 | 0 | ||||||
| Hubert Rigal | YZR500 | DNQ | 17 | Ret | Ret | DNQ | 17 | Ret | 0 | |||
| Kenny Blake | YZR500 | 17 | 0 | |||||||||
| Roger Marshall | YZR500 | 18 | 0 | |||||||||
| Max Wiener | RG500 | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | 19 | 25 | 0 | |||||
| Josef Hage | RG500 | DNQ | DNQ | 19 | 0 | |||||||
| Peter Sjöström | RG500 | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | Ret | 20 | 0 | |||||
| Peter Ammann | RG500 | 20 | 0 | |||||||||
| Giovanni Pelletier | Morbidelli | Ret | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | 21 | 0 | |||||
| Paul Henderson | RG500 | 21 | 0 | |||||||||
| Wolfgang von Muralt | YZR500 | 22 | 0 | |||||||||
| Gerhard Vogt | RG500 | 24 | 0 | |||||||||
| Jürgen Steiner | RG500 | 24 | 0 | |||||||||
| Michael Schmid | RG500 | DNQ | 26 | 0 | ||||||||
| Alois Tost | YZR500 | 27 | 0 | |||||||||
| Bruno Kölble | YZR500 | 28 | 0 | |||||||||
| Rolf Schneider | YZR500 | 29 | 0 | |||||||||
| Christian Sarron | YZR500 | Ret | Ret | 0 | ||||||||
| Gianni Rolando | RG500 | Ret | Ret | DNQ | Ret | 0 | ||||||
| Carlo Prati | RG500 | Ret | DNQ | Ret | 0 | |||||||
| Jon Ekerold | Sol/Bimota | DNQ | DNQ | Ret | DNS | DNS | 0 | |||||
| Skip Aksland | YZR500 | Ret | 0 | |||||||||
| Alain Nies | RG500 | DNQ | Ret | DNQ | 0 | |||||||
| Freddie Spencer | YZR500 | Ret | 0 | |||||||||
 Adelio Faccioli | RG500 | Ret | 0 | |||||||||
 Anton Mang | Kawasaki | Ret | 0 | |||||||||
 Peter Sköld | RG500 | Ret | 0 | |||||||||
 Kimmo Kopra | YZR500 | Ret | 0 | |||||||||
| Graham Wood | YZR500 | Ret | 0 | |||||||||
| Steve Manship | YZR500 | Ret | 0 | |||||||||
| Elmar Renner | RG500 | DNQ | DNQ | Ret | 0 | |||||||
| Gregg Hansford | Kawasaki | Ret | 0 | |||||||||
| Klaus Klein | RG500 | Ret | 0 | |||||||||
| Virginio Ferrari | Cagiva | Ret | 0 | |||||||||
| Clemens Driesch | RG500 | Ret | 0 | |||||||||
| Fritz Reitmaier | RG500 | Ret | 0 | |||||||||
| Ron Haslam | YZR500 | DNS | 0 | |||||||||
| Dennis Ireland | RG500 | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | 0 | |||||||
| Carlos de San Antonio | RG500 | DNQ | DNQ | 0 | ||||||||
| Gary Lingham | RG500 | DNQ | DNQ | 0 | ||||||||
| Antonio Garcia | RG500 | DNQ | DNQ | 0 | ||||||||
| Masaru Iwasaki | RG500 | DNQ | DNQ | 0 | ||||||||
| Henk Twikler | RG500 | DNQ | DNQ | 0 | ||||||||
| Timo Pohjola | RG500 | DNQ | DNQ | 0 | ||||||||
| Fabio Biliotti | RG500 | DNQ | 0 | |||||||||
| Corrado Tuzii | RG500 | DNQ | 0 | |||||||||
| Didier de Radigues | RG500 | DNQ | 0 | |||||||||
| Richard Schlachter | YZR500 | DNQ | 0 | |||||||||
| Jacques Agopian | RG500 | DNQ | 0 | |||||||||
 Børge Nielsen | RG500 | DNQ | 0 | |||||||||
| Dick Alblas | RG500 | DNQ | 0 | |||||||||
| Philippe Chaltin | RG500 | DNQ | 0 | |||||||||
| Albert Siegers | RG500 | DNQ | 0 | |||||||||
| Walter Koschine | RG500 | DNQ | 0 | |||||||||
| Jean-Philippe Delers | YZR500 | DNQ | 0 | |||||||||
| John Woodley | RG500 | DNQ | 0 | |||||||||
 Roberto Pietri | RG500 | DNQ | 0 | |||||||||
| Alex George | YZR500 | DNQ | 0 | |||||||||
| Günter Riehl | Yamato | DNQ | 0 |