Frédéric Caudron winner of fifth tournament VES

LIER - The final of the fifth VES tournament in Belgiu was again a match between the top players Frédéric Caudron and Eddy Merckx. This time Caudron was de winner. He grabbed the trophee in the tournament, which was played in Mister 100 Lier, with a score of 40-26 in 23 innings.

The VES-five tournaments so far all finished with a final between Caudron and Merckx. Caudron won three of them, Merckx two. Caudron played his best tournament so far in Sint Niklaas with an overall average of 2.222. In Lier he ended with 1.739 generally and a highest run of ten.

Frédéric Caudron, who will be one of the big favourites for the European title this week in Porto, didn't only play the prestige due with Merckx, but also met Eddy Leppens in Lier. In the semifinals he defeated his teammate in the Netherlands and Belgium 40-26 in seventeen innings.

Eddy Merckx won in the semifinals the duel with the surprisingly strong Johan Claessen 40-26.

The top ten of the VES-tournament:
1 Frédéric Caudron, 1.875 average, highest run 10, 2 Eddy Merckx 1.625, 14, 3 Eddy Leppens 1.832, 10, 4 Johan Claessen 1.215, 5 Jef Philipoom 1.485, 15, 6 Peter de Backer 1.315, 8, 7 Roland Forthomme 1.305, 7, 8 Steven Van Acker 1.256, 8, 9 Francis Forton 1.361, 8, 10 Kurt Ceulemans 1.325, 6, .