3-Cushion
BREDA/SLUISKIL - The successfull Eureka Billiard team added another win this Sunday when they beat Medisch Centrum Breda 6-2. It gave the men from Utrecht virtual certainty about a place in the play-offs. Just one more victory (four more rounds to play) will be enough to be in the top three. The other two spots are still up for grabs. The fight against relegation gets more exciting every week: TOVV 2 is the red lantern with 5 points, Bousema Lochem has ten, Burgmans Biljarts twelve and 't Hartje/Van Wanrooy thirteen. Dallinga.com is back in the sub-top after a home victory over Buffalo.nl (6-2). A1 Biljarts played ahead on Saturday and beat TOVV/Royal Pro 6-2. Dallinga.com and A1 Biljarts are now three points behind Medisch Centrum Breda, HCR Prinsen loses to Bousema and now trails the leader by seven points.
Frédéric Caudron (40 in 12) and Eddy Merckx (40 in 13) were the stars of the 18th round in the Buffalo league. Eddy Merckx won his match against Birol Uymaz (40-20) without making a high run. ,,I did not start off very well, 6 in 5, but then I could score regularly with a 7, a 5 and another 7 to the finish'', said Merckx later. Frédéric Caudron did peak in his match against Glenn Hofman. He made the gap halfway with a 9, and went from 25 to 40 with runs of 7 and 8.
The battle for the top position in the league was decided between the lead players. In the first session, Barry van Beers had a strong patch (6, 5, 3 and 5) to beat John Tijssens 40-30 in 20. Raimond Burgman restored the balance when he beat Thorsten Frings 40-28 in 22. Dave Christiani and Peter Ceulemans both had a strong start (4 innings, 17-15) with a run of 9 by Christiani, answered by a run of 10 from Ceulemans in the same inning. The Belgian then had a lull , and Christiani kept scoring. he made a 9 in the 13th inning to take a 33-22 lead, and he finished the job at 40-28 in 17. It turned out to be the best match of the meeting. Martin Horn started like a rocket against Roland Forthomme when he ran 9 from the break, and attacked again with a 9 in the 11th inning to make it 31-15. Eight more points in the last two innings (3 and 5) were enough to win the match: 40-29 in 19.
In the Sluiskil arena, where he had so much success himself, Glenn Hofman could not deal with the scoring power of Frédéric Caudron in the closing stages of the match. Berry Dallinga surprised the home crowd with a victory over Herman van Daalen, after a strong start (24-6 in 13) and a final score of 40-30 in 39. Jean Paul de Bruijn went neck and neck with Jean van Erp for a long time, but he had the better finish: 40-33 in 25. Jeffrey Jorissen took an early lead against Patrick Vasseur, created a 25-point gap even, but had trouble closing it out (40-19 in 22). ,,I missed six or seven short-angles, or I could have finished in 15 innings'', said the player from The Hague, who is regaining some form.
The derby in the east between Bousema and HCR Prinsen was a fascinating one. The team from Lochem built up a 3-1 lead at the interval, after Stefan Galla had beaten Anno de Kleine (40-21 in 23), and Markus Galla had drawn with Raymund Swertz in 50 innings. Dick Jaspers and Murat Naci Coklu treated the crowd to a feast of billiards, with Coklu running an 8 and a closing 3, and Jaspers could equalize with a single point, the match taking only 16 innings. Eddy Leppens secured the team win for Bousema with a victory over Jelle Pijl: 40-33 in 34.
A1 Biljarts-TOVV was decided by two quality finishes: Richard Bitalis trailed a mile against Henk Blauwblomme (38-24) but still won 40-38. Martien van der Spoel was the first to reach 40 when he played Frans van Schaik, and the billiard teacher from Amsterdam needed 2 in the equalizer but missed the second by a hair.
Kay de Zwart stood out for TOVV2 with another remarkable win, this time over Tayfun Tasdemir who had a bad day at the office. De Zwart won in 37 innings. Hakan Incekara had only a small margin over Sander Jonen (40-36 in 32), but he did win the match for Hartje/Van Wanrooy: 6-2. Davy van Havere played the best match, winning in 25 innings.
Christian Rudolph played a solo match against Frans van Kuyk (40-20 in 31), but Eekhoorn won the other three, to beat Burgmans Biljarts 6-2. Kenny Miatton was strong in his match against Rik van Beers (40-17 in 24), Kurt Ceulemans won in 38, and Jerry Hermans overcame a run of 13 by Johan Roijers, to keep the points in Oosterhout.