European Cup Final

SEASON 2022

EUROPEAN CUP FINAL 1st LEG

For some time it seemed that King's Lynn would struggle just to take a lead back to Sweden after trailing by 6 early on and then just 2 ahead after heat 13. A very strong finish though gave them a healthy 10 point lead to defend in Stockholm. Ray France and Michael Plant finished good performances with a heat 15 maximum and Ruzucha, Huntsman and Carter also impressed. For the visiting side Nemecek showed his quality and the rest of the top 5 also contributed but a couple of retirements and the reserves not being able to add points after heat 2 could prove costly in the final analysis although this final still looks finely balanced with Stockholm having home advantage now of course.

KING'S LYNN LIGHTNING 50

1. Ray France................ 3 3 3 1* 3 - 13+1

2. Will O'Brien.............. 0 1 1* 0 - - 2+1

3. Will Huntsman............. 0 2 3 1 - - 6

4. Vaclav Ruzucha............ 1 1* 2* 3 - - 7+2

5. Michael Plant............. 3 3 3 2 2* - 13+1

6. Kjell Vanhoutte........... 0 1 1 - - - 2

7. Shaun Carter.............. 2 1 2 0 2* - 7+1

STOCKHOLM SCORPIONS 40

1. Marko Cuetko.............. 2 3 R 0 - - 5

2. Hans Beck................. 1* 0 3 2 - - 6+1

3. Jacek Klecha.............. 3 R 1* 2* 0 - 6+2

4. Mateusz Kwiatkowski....... 2* 2 2 1 - - 7+1

5. Tibor Nemecek............. 2 2 1 3 3 1 12

6. William Forster........... 3 0 0 0 - - 3

7. Agostino Parisi........... 1 0 0 - - - 1

No. Results KI ST KI ST

1: Ray France, Marko Cuetko, Hans Beck, Will O'Brien...................... 3 3 3 3

2: William Forster, Shaun Carter, Agostino Parisi, Kjell Vanhoutte........ 2 4 5 7

3: Jacek Klecha, Mateusz Kwiatkowski, Vaclav Ruzucha, Will Huntsman....... 1 5 6 12

4: Michael Plant, Tibor Nemecek, Shaun Carter, Agostino Parisi............ 4 2 10 14

5: Marko Cuetko, Will Huntsman, Vaclav Ruzucha, Hans Beck................. 3 3 13 17

6: Ray France, Tibor Nemecek, Will O'Brien, William Forster............... 4 2 17 19

7: Michael Plant, Mateusz Kwiatkowski, Kjell Vanhoutte, Jacek Klecha (R).. 4 2 21 21

8: Hans Beck, Shaun Carter, Will O'Brien, Agostino Parisi................. 3 3 24 24

9: Will Huntsman, Vaclav Ruzucha, Tibor Nemecek, William Forster.......... 5 1 29 25

10: Ray France, Mateusz Kwiatkowski, Jacek Klecha, Will O'Brien............ 3 3 32 28

11: Michael Plant, Hans Beck, Kjell Vanhoutte, Marko Cuetko (R)............ 4 2 36 30

12: Tibor Nemecek, Jacek Klecha, Will Huntsman, Shaun Carter............... 1 5 37 35

13: Tibor Nemecek, Michael Plant, Ray France, Marko Cuetko................. 3 3 40 38

14: Vaclav Ruzucha, Shaun Carter, Mateusz Kwiatkowski, William Forster..... 5 1 45 39

15: Ray France, Michael Plant, Tibor Nemecek, Jacek Klecha................. 5 1 50 40

EUROPEAN CUP FINAL 2nd LEG

The final aggregate makes this look an extremely close run thing although the reality is that King's Lynn never seemed under any great pressure and they held an 8 point overall lead going into the final 2 races after a solid performance which had seen neither side lead by more than 2 points to the end of heat 13. A fall for Ruzucha meant he withdrew with injury but the Lightning had still done enough to confirm themselves as European Champions before conceding a final race maximum. Pretty much everyone contributed for the winning side, Shaun Carter top scoring with 10 points after proving vital from reserve again with the support from Huntsman, France, Plant and Ruzucha meaning the Scorpions couldn't make enough inroad into the first leg deficit. After struggling with bike problems in King's Lynn number 1 Marko Cuetko showed his quality for Stockholm with a faultless maximum and Kwiatowski and Nemecek also produced good performances. You could argue that Stockholm perhaps suffered a shade more bad luck but the support just wasn't as strong as King's Lynn managed and the Ultimate League side were worthy winners.

STOCKHOLM SCORPIONS 49 (89)

1. Marko Cuetko.............. 3 3 3 3 3 - 15

2. Hans Beck................. 1 1 2 1 - - 5

3. Jacek Klecha.............. 1 1* Fx 3 - - 5+1

4. Mateusz Kwiatkowski....... 0 2 3 3 2* - 10+1

5. Tibor Nemecek............. 3 3 3 0 - - 9

6. William Forster........... 2 0 0 1 - - 3

7. Agostino Parisi........... 1* 0 0 1 - - 2+1

KING'S LYNN LIGHTNING 41 (91)

1. Ray France................ 2 3 2 2 0 - 9

2. Will O'Brien.............. 0 R 1 1* - - 2+1

3. Will Huntsman............. 3 1* 2 2 1 - 9+1

4. Vaclav Ruzucha............ 2* 2 Fx - - - 4+1 (I)

5. Michael Plant............. 1* 2 2 1* - - 6+2

6. Kjell Vanhoutte........... 0 0 1* 0 - - 1+1

7. Shaun Carter.............. 3 2 3 0 2 - 10

No. Results ST KI ST KI

1: Marko Cuetko, Ray France, Hans Beck, Will O'Brien....................... 4 2 4 2

2: Shaun Carter, William Forster, Agostino Parisi, Kjell Vanhoutte......... 3 3 7 5

3: Will Huntsman, Vaclav Ruzucha, Jacek Klecha, Mateusz Kwiatkowski........ 1 5 8 10

4: Tibor Nemecek, Shaun Carter, Michael Plant, Agostino Parisi............. 3 3 11 13

5: Ray France, Mateusz Kwiatkowski, Jacek Klecha, Will O'Brien (R)......... 3 3 14 16

6: Marko Cuetko, Michael Plant, Hans Beck, Kjell Vanhoutte................. 4 2 18 18

7: Tibor Nemecek, Vaclav Ruzucha, Will Huntsman, William Forster........... 3 3 21 21

8: Shaun Carter, Hans Beck, Will O'Brien, Agostino Parisi.................. 2 4 23 25

9: Mateusz Kwiatkowski, Michael Plant, Kjell Vanhoutte, Jacek Klecha (Fx).. 3 3 26 28

10: Marko Cuetko, Will Huntsman, Hans Beck, Vaclav Ruzucha (Fx)............. 4 2 30 30

11: Tibor Nemecek, Ray France, Will O'Brien, William Forster................ 3 3 33 33

12: Jacek Klecha, Will Huntsman, Agostino Parisi, Shaun Carter.............. 4 2 37 35

13: Marko Cuetko, Ray France, Michael Plant, Tibor Nemecek.................. 3 3 40 38

14: Mateusz Kwiatkowski, Shaun Carter, William Forster, Kjell Vanhoutte..... 4 2 44 40

15: Marko Cuetko, Mateusz Kwiatkowski, Will Huntsman, Ray France............ 5 1 49 41