3-Cushion
The Dutch foursome of Buffalo.nl from The Hague and the quartet of A1 Biljarts from Apeldoorn had a profitable day in the Eredivisie, in its seventeenth round. The two other teams that are destined for the play-offs lost valuable points. In case of MCR/De Uitspanning: both points even, against Post Luchtkanalen, Zundert narrowly escaped defeat.
The Brabant team held its breath when Frans van Kuyk started his equalizing inning in his match against Roland Forthomme. The Belgian had finished at 50-43, his opponent was well on his way to equalize, having already made six, but he saw his final point miss around by a hair. Barry van Beers, the only Zundert player to have won by a margin (50-42 against Kenny Miatton) looked at it anxiously: ,,We could have lost 5-3 today, because Peter Ceulemans was trailing all the match against his uncle Kurt. He got back in it with a run of twelve, and even had a 40-38 lead..'' That match ended 50-43 in 26. Peter's comment: ,,Kurt played very well all the way, he stayed cool at the end and had a quality finish with a four, right after I had made that run.'' Raymon Groot had a dramatic start with 5 points after 24 innings, but at the end he only lost by a point: 50-49 in 51 to Jerry Hermans.
MCR/De Uitspanning sufffered a surprise defeat at the hands of Post Luchtkanalen, which is in a relegation fight. Kay de Zwart and Wilco van Wijk gave Post a 4-0 lead, when they beat Roland Uytdewillegen and Bert Hoefnagels in 53 and 55 innings respectively. Dave Christiani looked like saving the day: he had a lead over Davy van Havere all the way, finishing at 50-35 in 34. The top billing between Martin Horn and Eddy Leppens was now the decider: would it be a draw or a win for Post? Leppens: ,,At the interval, I still had the lead (25-18 in 14), but then we cruised to 40-40. From that point on, I have not seen a makeable position.'' Horn won it 50-41 in 35. Buffalo.nl took full advantage of that misstep, and recorded an 8-0 victory over De Distel for a share of the lead in the table. Jean van Erp was all smiles afterwards: ,,How good is this, for a team without any hired guns from abroad? I don't think an all-Dutch team has been in the lead in the Eredivisie for 20 years.'' The win for The Hague was well-deserved. Glenn Hofman was much too strong for Gerwin Valentijn (50-31 in 24), Jean van Erp stayed ahead of his Belgian teammate Jef Philipoom (50-42 in 35), Jeffrey Jorissen proved to be out of his slump by beating John Tijssens 50-40 in 39 and Herman van Daalen got past the Eredivisie's black sheep Hans van der Wurf, 50-20 in 54.
A1 Biljarts had a weakened opponent in Dallinga, it played without Caudron or de Bruijn. Martien van der Spoel was A1's best player when he used 29 innings for his win. Eddy Merckx beat Steven van Acker 50-21 in 32 and Raimond Burgman made a timely comeback against Bart Ceulemans, to win 50-45 in 35. Jean Paul de Kraker, a regular supporter of the Dallinga team, was the only winner when he beat Addy Wienk: 50-44 in 43. The Turkish clash between Tayfun Tasdemir and Murat Naci Coklu (50-30 in 31) was illustrative of the encounter between 't Hartje and Holland Mineraal. The home team won with the maximum 8-0 result. Therese Klompenhouwer was the one closest to a win, but she was edged by Martin Spoormans: 50-47 in 44. HCR Prinsen had trouble getting past red lantern VDO, but a 5-3 went into the books anyway. Anno de Kleine (50-41 in 44 against Arie Weijenburg) won for HCR and Nicky van Venrooy surprised with a 50-39 in 47 win over Dave van Geel.