1980 FIM Motocross World Championship

The 1980 FIM Motocross World Championship was the 24th F.I.M. Motocross Racing World Championship season.

André Malherbe (Honda) won the first 500cc World Championship of his career after a season-long battle with Brad Lackey (Kawasaki) that was not decided until the final race of the year. As well as battling with Lackey, Malherbe also faced a strong field of competitors in the 1980 season including the defending champion Graham Noyce (Honda), five-time World Champion Roger De Coster (Honda), and the 1979 250cc World Champion Håkan Carlqvist (Yamaha) as well as talented newcomer André Vromans (Yamaha).

The season was dominated by Malherbe and Lackey as the two racers traded the top two positions in the points standing five times during a season-long battle for the 500cc World Championship. Defending champion Noyce won the Finnish Grand Prix but then suffered a broken leg and missed the remainder of the season recovering from his injury. Carlqvist remained in contention after winning his home Grand Prix in Sweden but then faded during the second half of the season. Entering the final race of the year in Luxembourg, Malherbe held a slim one-point lead over Lackey in the championship points standings. Lackey suffered two crashes in Luxembourg which allowed Malherbe to win the world championship with Lackey finishing in second place. Malherbe claimed the world title by winning 9 individual heat races and 4 Grand Prix overall victories. Vromans won two Grand Prix races and challenged his Yamaha teammate for third place before Carlqvist outscored him in the final two races.

Privateer racer Marty Moates (Yamaha) scored an upset victory at the 500cc United States Grand Prix held at the Carlsbad Raceway. His unexpected victory against a field of top-rated competitors came at a time when European racers dominated the sport and marked the first time that an American had won his home Grand Prix since the event's inception in 1973. Five-time World Champion Roger De Coster announced his retirement after scoring an impressive victory at the season-ending 500cc Luxembourg Grand Prix. The retirements of Heikki Mikkola and De Coster who had dominated the 1970s, marked the beginning of a new era in the Motocross World Championships.

The 1980 250cc World Championship lacked any one clearly dominant competitor as eleven different riders won heat races during the season. Despite only winning only three Grand Prix victories, Georges Jobé (Suzuki) won the championship through sheer consistency as he was able to score points at a rate that none of his competitors were able to match. Runnerup Kees van der Ven (Maico) also had three Grand Prix victories but failed to score any points in 10 races. At 19 years, 6 months and 14 days, Jobé dethroned Joël Robert for the honorary title of youngest Motocross World Champion in history at the time.

After dominating the 1979 season, Harry Everts faced stronger opposition in the 1980 125cc Motocross World Championship from a trio of young riders. Marc Velkeneers (Yamaha) won two of the first three rounds to take the championship points lead. Everts then suffered a broken wrist in France forcing him to miss three rounds while points leader Velkeneers suffered a broken leg in West Germany. Their absence allowed Michèle Rinaldi (TGM) and Eric Geboers (Suzuki) to narrow the points gap before Everts was able to return and win the Finnish and Spanish Grand Prix events to clinch the title at the last race of the season by 5 points over Rinaldi. Everts' Suzuki teammate Akira Watanabe was expected to be one of his strongest rival for the title but he suffered an injury in the opening round and never returned. The dominant Suzuki factory racing team narrowly avoided defeat by the tiny Italian manufacturer TGM with Rinaldi finishing in second place just 5 points behind Everts.

Points are awarded based on the results of each individual heat race. The top 10 classified finishers in each heat race score points according to the following scale;

(Results in italics indicate overall winner)

(Results in italics indicate overall winner)

(Results in italics indicate overall winner)

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