3-Cushion
DEURNE/LIER - The highlight in the 18th round at the Belgian competition was the run of 20 that Eddy Merckx made in his match against Roland Forthomme. He made the gap with that attack in the fourth inning. The miss on his way to his 21st point was in a difficult position, after Merckx had some wonderful points in the run. The twenty run was the best in the league so far. The margin between the numbers one and two in the Belgian competition has become slightly smaller again. On the eighteenth match day, BC Deurne played a draw against Herentals, De Goeie Queue and Mr. 100 Lier sealed victory vs De Witte Molen and Kortrijk.
The teams in the highest league still have four rounds to go. BC Deurne is the leader with 27 points and De Goeie Queue, second with 24 points, meet in the penultimate round on Tuesday, March 26.
From the pursuers, Mr. 100 Lier is also within reach with 23 points, Op de Meir climbed after a win over Mr. 100 Lier to top five with 20 points. Quality Zele and De Witte Molen gathered one point more. The Eeklose billiard club has 4 points and will leave the highest league. Mr. 100 Lier 2 will certainly follow.
The teams with chances of promotion to the highest class are mainly De Ploeg 1 with, among others Jack Wijnen, Therese Klompenhouwer and Eddy Willems, Biljart Palace with Kay de Zwart, Frank Martens and Ronny Daniels and DOS Roeselaere with Cédric Melnytschenko and Patrick Kesteloot. De Ploeg already has a big advantage over the competitors.
De Goeie Queue slowly moves up closer to leader BC Deurne in the highest class. The win over De Witte Molen (6-2), on Tuesday-evening in De Salpho, gave 'De Queue' hope for a nice final part. In the four games that follow, BC Deurne still plays against Quality Zele, Mr. 100 Lier 2, De Goeie Queue and Mr. 100 Lier 1. De Goeie Queue will face Eeklo, Mr. 100 Lier, BC Deurne and Quality. The odds are about the same, so that the mutual match can be decisive.
BC Deurne ran away from Herentals at the last minute, when Martin Horn to make the draw against Glenn Hofman. The Dutchman went out, Horn had to score five for a draw. He missed his last point. Jean van Erp won the other match for Deurne against Leon Smolders 42-35 in 30.
In De Goeie Queue's team, Caudron won on Tuesday evening against Weeremans (50-17 in 19), De Bruijn vs Forton (50-41 in 41) and Hermans vs Broeders (42-19 in 28). Pierre Soumagne was the only winner for De Witte Molen vs Wesley de Jaeger 42-26 in 33.
Biljart Express bested Eeklo by the maximum score, thanks among others to Frans van Kuyk and Gerwin Valentijn, good for the fifty points in 33 and 30 innings. The best game of the week came from Caudron, who defeated Weeremans with 50 in 19 innings.
Barry van Beers was the best man for Op de Meir in the match against Mr. 100 Lier 2. The 'Brabander' beat Ad Koorevaar in 27 innings. Peter Ceulemans was the better of Dave Christiani in the match with Mr. 100 against Kortrijk: 50-42 in 27.