3-Cushion
APELDOORN/OOSTERHOUT - Nobody knows how it will be at the end of the race. The Dutch three cushion league is a competition without main contenders for the title, a ranking which is unpredictable and can be turned upside down every week. The second day this weekend was a precursor for the entire season, the league can come down to a crazy carousel. Dallinga.com, A1 Billiards and Prinsen, with Frédéric Caudron, Eddy Merckx and Dick Jaspers as their leaders, lost two precious points this Sunday and are midfield teams now with De Distel, Eekhoorn and Post Luchtkanalen, two match points behind the three frontrunners De Uitspanning, Buffalo.nl and STZ Zundert.
Frédéric Caudron was the best winner (50-22 in 17 against Glenn Hoffman), Martin Horn sparkled with a 15-run against Rudy de Laet and 50-26 in 23, but Jaspers, Merckx and Leppens were the exponents of a day full of unexpected scores.
Three teams remain unbeaten: Buffalo.nl, the former Jorissen, played a tight 6-2 in the house of the reigning champion Dallinga by victories of Jean van Erp, Jeffrey Jorissen and Herman van Daalen.
The match between Jean van Erp and Jean Paul de Bruijn was the most exciting. The Buffalo player had a strange start with runs of 8, 10 and 6 and five misses in the first eight innings. De Bruijn missed a short angle shot at 49-47 and Van Erp then closed with three. Patrick Vasseur was - apparently - the victim of superstition when he missed, with thirteen caroms on the scoreboard, thirteen times in a row and lost 50-30 in 40.
Raimond Burgman and Peter Ceulemans (A1 Biljarts and Zundert STZ) played another thrilling match. The Belgian was leading 22-9 after nine innings and runs of eleven and six, Burgman answered with 13 and 8 (leading 30-24 in 11 at the break). In the decisive part, Burgman led 46-31 in 21 innings, but Ceulemans finished with one, ten, one and seven. Burgman even missed the equalizer: 50-46 in 25.
Peter Ceulemans beat Raimond Burgman in a strong final rush
Roland Forthomme dominated the entire match against Eddy Merckx, whom he put on a 46-20 backlog after 25 innings include a run of thirteen. The final was not easy: Forthomme needed another sixteen innings to finish at 50-41 in 41.
MCR De Uitspanning returned home with a close 5-3 score from the away game against 't Hartje/Van Wanrooij in which Ad Broeders (run of ten) defeated Eddy Leppens 50-49 and Wim van Cromvoirt and Sander Jonen played a draw . Thorsten Frings and Dave Christiani took the full win for the team against Frank Martens and Yves Schietecatte.
Frans van Kuyk led his team of Eekhoorn to a wonderful victory over Prinsen with a comfortable win against Dick Jaspers 50-27 in 19 innings. The home team ran to a 7-1 victory, only Kurt Ceulemans played a draw against Anno de Kleine. Kenny Miatton defeated Jelle Pijl and Jerry Hermans bested Raymund Swertz. Post Luchtkanalen shown with its number one player Martin Horn who beat Rudy de Laet (50-45 in 44 with a fifteen run). Davy van Havere and Henk Habraken took the win against Arie Weijburg and René Wijnen. Holland Mineral was knocked down for the second week in a row. De Distel took a 5-3 victory in the away match. Jef Philipoom defeated Therese Klompenhouwer (50-28 in 37), John Tijssens excaped with a narrow win over Wesley de Jaeger (50-46 in 40) and Gerwin Valentijn played a draw against Stefan Galla.
Two players had a strong equalizing inning. Berry Dallinga with ten, yet he lost against Herman van Daalen 50-46. Anno de Kleine finished with five for the draw against Kurt Ceulemans.
Frédéric Caudron, best of the day in the Dutch league
Jean van Erp matchwinner for his team