3-Cushion
DOETINCHEM - The two frontrunners in the Dutch Buffalo league remained undefeated in round three. The team from the Hague, with its new sponsor SIS, won their tricky away game against De Veemarkt in Doetinchem with a 6-2 score, thanks to an important victory by Glenn Hofman over Tayfun Tasdemir (40-38 in 23). HCR Prinsen kept the points at home by beating L&B. Dick Jaspers led the way when he needed only 14 innings to beat Eddy Merckx by 40-24.
Dick Jaspers had the much better start (17-11 in 7, 25-11 in 8 was never going to lose from there. It closed the deal for his team. The visitors from Brabant, considered to be one of the title favorites, can't get out of the blocks this season and are still in the basement after three rounds. Dave Christiani did create a good lead against Eddy Leppens (20-12 in 10), but the Belgian recovered with a run of 11 after halftime. Gerwin Valentijn was the only winner for L&B (40-20 against De Kleine in 22). John Tijssens is without rhythm and could not get past Jelle Pijl.
De Veemarkt made a gallant effort to win a first point at home, when it took on the league leaders of SIS. It did not start well, because Raimond Burgman and Jeffrey Jorissen took a 0-4 lead at halftime, so the Turkish players had their work cut out. Only Can Capak managed, when he got the better of Jean van Erp (40-32 in 27). Glenn Hofman was responsible for the all-important last win, in an exciting race with Tayfun Tasdemir. ,,It was back and forth all match long'', said the first player from The Hague later. ,,I had the lead, then he had his nose in front, but in the end I had the last laugh.''
The two frontrunners are being chased by three teams at two points distance: A1 Biljarts, STZ Zundert and 't Hartje/Van Wanrooy. The Brabant derby between 't Hartje and Team Eekhoorn was closed at 6-2 in favor of Van Wanrooy, after Savas Bulut had beaten Kurt Ceulemans, Ad Koorevaar set aside Kenny Miatton and Ad Broeders proved stronger than Jerry Hermans. Frans van Kuyk won the honorary points when he beat Peter De Backer 40-33 in 31.
A1 Biljarts did well against Bousema Lochem (6-2), and four German players made it a hard fights. Christian Rudolph was way ahead of Martin Horn (40-20 in 19), Stefan Galla performed flawlessly against Ronny Lindemann, 40-21 in 17.
STZ Zundert had an unexpectedly difficult day against red lantern MCR. Peter Ceulemans and Barry van Beers (blessed) were sorely missed, and Roland Forthomme could not win for the third time this season. The Belgian lost to Thorsten Frings, 40-27 in 24. Youngsters Raymon Groot and Sam van Etten beat Hoefnagels and Loenen, Rik van Beers played a draw against Emilio Sciacca, which gave STZ that vital 5th point and the result was a 5-3 win.
Steven van Acker is the only undefeated player for Dallinga, he has two wins and a draw. The Belgian won against DPC's Martin Spoormans (40-31 in 22). Frédéric Caudron made the 4-4 when he beat Birol Uymaz in twenty innings, Jean Paul de Bruijn and Berry Dallinga were the two losses for Dallinga, against French players Jérõme Barbeillon and Cédric Melnytsjenko respectively.
The current top of the table:
1 SIS Schoonmaak 3-6
2 HCR Prinsen 3-6
3 A1 Biljarts 3-4
4 't Hartje/Van Wanrooy 3-4
5 STZ Zundert 3-4.