Slovenian star Matej Zagar faces a stint on the sidelines after suffering a broken ankle in Northampton’s Rowe Motor Oil Premiership loss at Belle Vue on Bank Holiday Monday.
The former Speedway GP winner crashed in heat seven at the National Speedway Stadium as the Aces saw off the Foxes 53-37 in the lunchtime meeting.
With Zagar ruled out of Northampton’s evening match at Leicester, along with Danish racer Niels-Kristian Iversen, who is still advised against flying due to a punctured lung, the Foxes went down 57-33 in their second meeting of the day.
Northampton co-promoter Paul Hunsdon said: “It’s a major blow for us, and you only had to look at how badly we were affected in the middle order at Leicester with both Matej and Niels out. We’ll be discussing as a promotion and management what our options are for cover, and we’ll update everyone as soon as possible with what we choose to do.”
Zagar wasn’t the only rider to suffer injuries on Bank Holiday Monday as former SGP2 star Dan Thompson sustained a broken collarbone while racing for Leicester that evening, crashing on the fourth bend of heat 10.
Posting on social media, he wrote: “Unfortunately I can confirm I’ve sustained a broken collarbone. I’m absolutely gutted. I’ll need some time to recover properly. At this stage there’s no clear timescale on a return. Thank you to everyone for the kind messages and support – it really means a lot.”
Elsewhere in the Rowe Motor Oil Premiership, champions Ipswich raced to a 50-40 victory over King's Lynn in their first home league match of 2026, with Richard Lawson defying a van breakdown to rack up 14 points against his old club.
Witches boss Paul Hurry said: “There were a few little fiascos before the meeting. Richard’s van broke down. Richard is Richard – even if the applecart is falling apart around him, he still goes out there and does his job. You can’t fault him for that.
“I got a phone call at 7am to say, ‘Paul, my van has broken down.’ Very kindly, his Poole teammate Fraser Bowes brought him and his equipment up, which I would like to thank him for.
“He had emptied the van in a rush and, on the way up, Richard realised he had forgot to put his boots and race suit in.
“We had to phone around and we found some. Cameron Heeps had sold an old Ipswich suit to someone, and they said they were more than happy for Richard to use it to get us through.
“Fortunately, he keeps his head. Nothing really flusters him, and he went out there and did the job.”