Pre-season favourite Richard Hubin was quick out of the gate but his title charge immediately faltered with an electrical failure at Carole and two disastrous races at Huy, and it took the rest of the year for him to catch back up to Michel Simul, whose new Yamaha YZF was still in development throughout the year. Simul was always a front-runner but wouldn't win another race after the second round; Hubin's seven wins were enough to overhaul the points deficit despite a breakdown at Chimay, and though he only led by one point going into the final race he finished comfortably ahead of Simul for his second straight championship. For the first time the Belgian Championship co-ordinated with the Swiss federation to combine their grids for once race, bulking their equally small championships into a formidable grid of 37 riders at Magny-Cours.