Christer Lindholm's title defence with his new Yamaha team began with an immediate show of pace at Zweibrücken which lasted just a dozen laps before a mechanical failure put him out of the season opener. After that initial stumble, though, came complete domination of the championship; 13 podium finishes from the remaining 13 races, 10 of which were wins, secured Lindholm his second title by almost 100 points. Second in the standings was a surprising new name: Gregorio Lavilla, already a two-time Spanish champion after 3 years of racing, who took a double victory at the opening round with some fearless riding at the high-speed Zweibrücken circuit and was a front-runner for the rest of the year. Fighting for third place were Andreas Meklau, Jochen Schmid and Udo Mark who all made regular appearances in the World Championship between their Pro-Superbike commitments.