Anyone who knows Stephen Gall well, knew that he would be even more determined to win the 1980 Mister Motocross title, having led all year in 1979 – only to be pipped at the post by Anthony Gunter.

Gunter surprised all when he arrived at the final round at Amaroo Park with a brand new Factory works Suzuki and convincingly won all four races to win his third Mr. MX and take back the reigning title from Gall. 

Best friends, but arch-rivals on the track, the pair from New South Wales travelled together to the Unites States during the off-season to practice and race in preparation for the 1980 motocross season back home.

Gall, in particular, came back wiser, fitter and faster and upped his pace to such an extent that he was rarely beaten during the year aboard his revamped Yamaha YZ465G machine.

After several years in the shadow of Anthony Gunter – who faded from the scene in 1980, fraught with the frustration of injuries and illness – Gall finally emerged as Australia’s number one moto-crosser and won almost every title he contested that year.

Victorian rider Trevor Williams was the main rider to pose any threat to Gall in 1980, justifying the faith that Team Kawasaki Australia had in nurturing him for several years, along with South Australian Yamaha rider Daryll Willoughby.

Continually growing since marketing guru Vince Tesoriero introduced the Mr. MX series in 1974, but in 1980 it almost didn’t survive. To make it financially viable, the series was reduced to four rounds – two in NSW (Jilliby and Amaroo), one in the ACT (Canberra) and one in Victoria (Broadford).

The opening round in Broadford on 1 June saw three new riders figure heavily in the results. Two of the “newbies” Trevor Williams and Grant Cramer (VIC, Yamaha), tied on the day to lead the point score after the opening round, with Williams the round winner on a countback.  Another Victorian, Suzuki rider Mark Hill finished in third.

Reigning Mr. MX Anthony Gunter didn’t start due to a broken collarbone, while Stephen Gall finished back in fifth place, which surprised many.

Round 2 at Jilliby in New South Wales on 29 June saw another surprise, with Queensland Suzuki rider Stewart McLauchlan winning the day to shoot up the leader board into third, just 10 points off the new Series Leader Darryl Willoughby (Yamaha) on 67 points, who had just edged ahead of Williams on 64.

Gall improved his position to be only 11 points off the lead – tied with McLauchlan in third on 57 points. Gunter’s first appearance was successful and he was now in seventh position, just behind Hill and Cramer, who were tied on 41.

Finally, in round 3 at Canberra on 17 August – the first time that the series was held in the ACT – Gall hit top form.  Heading into this round Willoughby led the series (67 points), ahead of Williams (64) and McLachlan and Gall, who were tied in third (57) with Grant Cramer (VIC, Yamaha) and Mark Hill (VIC, Suzuki) tied in fifth (41).

On a day which saw some spectacular crashes and retirements due to injuries and mechanical failures, it was Stephen Gall who put on a virtuoso riding display to score maximum points and jump to the top of the leaderboard with one round remaining.  Williams finished second overall (2-2-2-2) behind Gall, with Greg Cady (VIC, Yamaha) in third (6-6-4-5).

Series leader Willoughby had a disastrous day, crashing heavily twice.  In moto 1, he crashed on lap 1 while vying for the lead with Gall and lay on the middle of the track as the whole field went by and luckily managed to miss him.  He then restarted in last place and stormed through the field to finish fourth.

But he would score no further points on the day. On Lap 4 in moto 2, while trying to pass Williams in second and catch leader Gall, he landed awkwardly of a jump and crashed heavily over a tyre wall, dislocating his shoulder.

With McLachlan unable to race due to suffering the effects of a heavy crash at the Winternationals, Mark Hill crashing out in the first moto in Canberra and Willoughby injured, Galls four wins shot him into the lead after three rounds, making the final a two-horse race between him and Williams.

Just five points separated Gall (117) and Williams (112), with Willoughby in third on 75 – the only other rider with a mathematical chance of winning the title.  Everybody expected Gall, the Amaroo specialist, to win the final round and series, which is exactly what he did! 

He convincingly won the Amaroo Park round on 7 September to win the series on 174 points, ahead of Williams in second (144) and Willoughby in third (108) – with Cramer (105) and Greg Cady (94) rounding out the top 5.

Two weeks later on 20-21 September in Dargle (NSW), the elusive Australian title finally fell to Gall when he picked up both the Unlimited and 250 crowns and capped off his most successful season so far.