3-Cushion
CAPELLE AAN DEN IJSSEL - With a victory in the Grand Prix in Capelle aan de IJssel, this Saturday afternoon, Dick Jaspers has crowned the Dutch cycle with a hattrick. The very best three cushion player in his country defeated Raimond Burgman in the final and closed the 2013 cycle with three wins in a row.
The sixteen players, who lead the rankings after four tournaments, will perform early next year in the Masters for the Dutch title. Jaspers leads with 278 points. He was only stopped by Barry van Beers this year in the first Grand Prix in Amsterdam.
,,I am very happy with my victory here, because there are lots of high level players to beat'', Jaspers reacted afterwards in Capelle. ,,Raimond Burgman, Glenn Hoffman, Jean Paul de Bruijn, Barry van Beers, Jean van Erp, they're all feared competitors. And sometimes I'm a slow starter, so you can be punished by one of them. But luckily that did not happen. I've played a very strong tournament and throughout the entire cycle I played 1.900.''
Dick Jaspers, Barry van Beers and Raimond Burgman have dominated the four Grand Prix events and topped the ranks. Jaspers took 1.843 average in three tournaments and finished 2.028 in Capelle. The final weekend showed again the supremacy: Jaspers is the only player in his country who's in top twelve of the world for many years.
He was extremely strong right from the start, beating Wilco van Wijk (40-17 in 25, 1.600) , Glenn Hoffman (40-22 in 29, 1.379), Barry van Beers in the semi-final (40-15 in 12, 3.333 ) and in the final Raimond Burgman (40-21 in 14, 2.857). In the battle for victory Jaspers ran away from his opponent to 30-12 in nine innings including 6, 3 and 10 runs. In the 13th inning, he scored a nine and only missed the match point.
The later champion also shone in the semis with an impressive superiority. Barry van Beers was swept away in a dazzling start (8, 3, 7, 1, 1, 1 and 11), Jaspers finished after 12 innings. The scores of his opponent: three runs of five and nine misses.
Raimond Burgman decided the match vs Jean Paul de Bruijn in the last innings, after they balanced until 18-18 and 28-28. In the final part Burgman was by far the better with some small runs, in which he beat De Bruijn: 40-31 in 22.
The top ten ranking in Capelle aan de IJssel (including averages):
1 Dick Jaspers 2.028
2 Raimond Burgman 1.631
3 Jean Paul de Bruijn 1.650
4 Barry van Beers 1.221
5 Jeffrey Jorissen 1.305
6 Jean van Erp 1.305
7 Glenn Hoffman 1.264
8 Frans van Schaik 1.078
9 Bert van Manen 1.078
10 Martien van der Spoel 1.070.