Claudio De Carli brings his compatriot and last year's runner-up world champion Chiodi into the Yamaha factory team

Claudio De Carli founds De Carli Racing. He is responsible for Yamaha's World Championship entries.

Yamaha has finally done it. John van den Berk wins the first world championship title in the small class.

Keith McCarty becomes manager of Yamaha USA Racing Division. He joined Yamaha USA in 1977 as a mechanic for Bob Hannah.

Marc Velceneers returns after a year's "break" with the Belgian army, where he had to do his military service, and confirms his talent. Yamaha now supports him at factory level and he repays them with 4th place in the world championship. He won the Belgian Grand Prix in Hechtel, becoming the youngest Grand Prix winner in history (at that time).

At just 16 years of age, Marc Velkeneers causes a sensation by winning the Belgian championship.

Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. acquires a majority stake in Öhlins. However, company founder Kenth Öhlin remains on board and continues to head up the brand.

With the strong Gerard Rond, Yamaha now also managed to get involved in the World Championship, having long since become one of the most important brands in the USA. Yamaha was not only a pioneer in the field of monoshocks with Cantilever, but also equipped the OW27 with water cooling in the World Championship this year.

Sugio only rides for Yamaha in the overseas GPs in the USA and Canada. But that's enough for 8th place in the World Championship final standings.

Torsten Hallmann is stepping down as Yamaha consultant. He played a key role in the development of the YZ series and the selection of riders until the first title was won in 1973. He now wants to focus on his own clothing brand, THOR.

Yamaha launches the YZM250, the first model to be equipped with Monocross suspension in factory use. Hakan Andersson secures the title early on, leaving the competition on conventional twin-shock machines with little chance. In the end, he wins six GPs and Yamaha's first world championship title.

Hakan Andersson is signed by Yamaha on the advice of consultant Torsten Hallmann.

Minoru Tanaka becomes technical coordinator for Europe and the World Championship for Yamaha

Torsten Hallman is hired by Yamaha as a consultant to build up the European team.