Slovenian star Matej Zagar defied a frightening fall to boost his FIM Speedway World Championship medal hopes with an heroic Gorzow FIM Speedway Grand Prix of Poland victory on Saturday night.
The Ljubljana-born rider took a ride back to the pits in an ambulance after Aussie champion Jason Doyle dived hard under Nicki Pedersen in heat 18, catching the Dane’s front wheel. The triple world champion fell hard, taking Zagar with him.
Zagar – racing on his Polish Ekstraliga home track – landed awkwardly with his bike nearly clearing the third-bend safety fence.
Pedersen walked back to the pits unaided, but withdrew from the meeting with a suspected neck injury. Zagar emerged from the ambulance and showed incredible steel to win the re-run.
After finishing behind world champion Greg Hancock in his semi-final to reach the last four, Zagar rounded the American legend in superb style to claim his third career SGP win and move on to 81 championship points. This puts him one behind Hancock in third and four short of Nicki Pedersen in second.
An incredible 18 points from Great Britain’s World Championship leader Tai Woffinden means he will take some catching, as he holds a 24-point lead at the summit with four rounds to race.
But Zagar is firmly in the medal hunt, even if scoring points was the last thing on his mind following his fall, which left him with abdominal pain and headaches.
He said: “When I was sitting on the track, I had other worries about my health, not where I was going to finish in the end. Of course it was a tough night and I’m lucky I didn’t do some serious damage. I have big aches in my belly and I’ll have to get that checked out later.”
Zagar’s form bodes brilliantly for his homecoming on September 12 for the Mitas Slovenian SGP in Krsko. The national icon managed eight points there the last time the series visited his homeland in 2013. It’s a tally he’s keen to improve upon as he races for the rostrum.
He said: “Finally we have the series back in Slovenia! I have mixed thoughts because the last one wasn’t brilliant for me at Krsko in 2013, but I’m happy for the fans and the whole speedway community there. I’m very glad this event is back in Slovenia. “I hope I am going to ride well. I hope the stadium will be sold out and we’ll have a great attendance.”
Gorzow SGP runner-up Greg Hancock was delighted to reach his first final of 2015. He trails Woffinden by 27 points in third place. But Grin refuses to give up hope of retaining his world crown.
He said: “I wouldn’t say it has been a bad year. It has just been one of those years where I haven’t found the form I look for. Finally things are coming back. I’ll keep plugging away and there is still a long way to go.”
There’s no doubt Pedersen’s withdrawal from the meeting gave Woffinden’s title bid a huge shot in the arm as he increased his overall lead from 13 to 24 in one meeting. He is now odds on to become a double world champion, but he pledged to stay focused until the gold medal is secure.
He said: “It was a good night for me. Unfortunately Nicki had that crash and I don’t like to see any rider ruled out. Matej had one as well. For Matej to be at the point where he was nearly going to say no to riding and come out and do that is a great achievement. Congratulations to Matej.
“Everything is going well. I’m plugging away and keeping my head down. Everything is working for me and it isn’t over yet. There are still four rounds to go. We’ll just see what happens and keep going. I want to say thanks to all my sponsors and thanks to my engine tuner Peter Johns.”
The Gorzow SGP top trio were keen to send their best wishes to Aussie ace Darcy Ward after he sustained serious spinal damage in Poland last Sunday.
Ward thanked fans from his hospital bed in the UK after his name was chanted throughout the night, with the crowd paying tribute to the 23-year-old with songs, banners and t-shirts.
Hancock thanked the supporters who showed such great support for his good friend. He said: “I want to say thank you to all the Polish fans and everybody who has stepped up to the plate to support Darcy Ward. This is massive and you guys deserve the biggest round of applause of all.
“What happened to Darcy puts our lives and careers into perspective. We know what can happen to a rider, even of the best ability he has. It’s hard. It hurts. But we have to be strong for him. The kid has a long road ahead of him and we’ll be there all the way.”
Woffinden added: “I’d also like to send a special message to Darcy, who was watching today. After hearing that crowd tonight, we know there are a lot of people thinking of him and there for him in heart and soul. It’s great to see. We all love him, we’re doing everything we can and we will continue to do that.”
Zagar said: “Speedway can be so cruel and you can be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I can’t say any words about what happened (to Darcy) last week. All I can say to Darcy is I just wish him luck.”
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: 1 Tai Woffinden 109, 2 Nicki Pedersen 85, 3 Greg Hancock 82, 4 Matej Zagar 81, 5 Niels-Kristian Iversen 70, 6 Chris Holder 69, 7 Jason Doyle 66, 8 Michael Jepsen Jensen 64, 9 Maciej Janowski 63, 10 Andreas Jonsson 51, 11 Peter Kildemand 46, 12 Troy Batchelor 40, 13 Chris Harris 39, 14 Tomas H Jonasson 38, 15 Jaroslaw Hampel 31, 16 Krzysztof Kasprzak 26, 17 Bartosz Zmarzlik 17, 18 Antonio Lindback 14, 19 Craig Cook 7, 20 Mikkel Michelsen 6, 21 Tomasz Gollob 4, 22 Timo Lahti 3, 23 Kasts Puodzuks 3, 24 Vaclav Milik 2, 25 Piotr Pawlicki 1, 26 Robert Lambert 1, 27 Adrian Cyfer 1.
GORZOW SGP SCORES: 1 Matej Zagar 16, 2 Greg Hancock 17, 3 Tai Woffinden 18, 4 Bartosz Zmarzlik 14, 5 Niels-Kristian Iversen 10, 6 Michael Jepsen Jensen 10, 7 Peter Kildemand 9, 8 Chris Holder 8, 9 Nicki Pedersen 7, 10 Jason Doyle 6, 11 Andreas Jonsson 6, 12 Maciej Janowski 5, 13 Chris Harris 5, 14 Troy Batchelor 4, 15 Krzysztof Kasprzak 1, 16 Tomas H Jonasson 1, 17 Adrian Cyfer 1, 18 Rafal Karczmarz DNR.