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Zagar won the award after excellent performances on the Speedway Grand Prix circuit, where he finished 7th overall and guaranteed himself a permanent spot on the grid in next season's Grand Prix series. His best results came in the Czech and European (Poland) Grands Prix, where he came second and third respectively. Besides the GP circuit, Zagar also competes in both the British and Swedish speedway leagues; in Great Britain, he drives for Reading Bulldogs and in Sweden for Vargarna. Every Saturday evening, the radio audience is polled and asked to award 1, 3 or 5 points to athletes who had excelled during the preceding week. They can vote via telephone, e-mail or televoting and the eventual winner is the athlete with the highest number of points. The same system is applied for selecting the athlete of the winter. Among the athletes who were in line for this prestigious award after distinguishing themselves this summer were: Irena Avbelj (parachuting), Jani Brajkovic, Tadej Valjavec (both cycling), Matjaz Markic (swimming), Matic Osovnikar (running), Dejan Zavec (boxing), Mitja Petkovsek (gymnastics), Katarina Srebotnik (tennis) and Iztok Cop / Luka Spik (rowing). Not the first but the most successful Speedway has a long tradition in Slovenia and while Zagar is not the first Slovenian to take part in the international GP series, he is certainly the most successful. Matej Ferjan competed in 2000 and finished 19th overall in his first full season in 2001. Izak Santej and Denis Stojs have also taken part in GP racing but only as guest drivers at the Krsko speedway, which is the cradle of speedway racing in Slovenia. It has hosted GP races since 2002 and also stages the popular national championships, which always draws crowds of between 5,000 and 8,000.