3-Cushion
DEN HAAG/ZUNDERT - Just before the winter recess, the frontrunner in the Dutch League stumbled and fell. The double weekend was a clean-up for SIS den Haag (a cleaning company), they are the December champions. HCR Prinsen, the table leaders lost twice, SIS won both their matches: at home against MCR and away against L & B.
The double header, in which Dave Christiani (L & B) provided one of the highlights with a run of 18, ended on a sad note for HCR Prinsen, the so far unbeaten leader. The team from Haarlo played without Dick Jaspers (Bundesliga), and was twice beaten. De Eekhoorn recorded a 6-2, Zundert copied that score a day later. Substitute lead player Eddy Leppens was handsomely beaten by Roland Forthomme (40-24 in21), and narrowly by Frans van Kuyk (40-38 in 29). Anno de Kleine also lost twice (versus Kurt Ceulemans and Barry van Beers). Raymund Swertz was the only winner on Saturday (v. Jerry Hermans, when he ran 9 from the break). Jelle Pijl got past Rik van Beers on Sunday.
,,It shows you how much quality the league has, and how small the margins are amongst the top teams'', said Jeffrey Jorissen on Sunday evening in The Hague, where the December champions celebrated the weekend results in their club home. ,,It's early days'', added Cor Trampe, the team manager. ,,But it's a nice way to end the year.'' Dinand Prinsen, of the fallen HCR team: ,,We had not planned the weekend to go like this, but we simply came up short in a few deciding moments.''
SIS Schoonmaak showed up in the strongest line-up on Saturday, against L&B. On Sunday, against red lantern MCR, Jean van Erp had permission to go play in Germany and Herman van Daalen substituted. The first session In Hoeven was cause for concern. ,,I think we'll be 4-0 down at halftime'', said Glenn Hofman a bit prematurely.
It turned out to be 0-4 instead of 4-0, because Jeffrey Jorissen beat John Tijssens (40-32 in 32) and Jean van Erp (after a slow start) beat Dave Christiani (40-19 in 17). The one remaining win in the second half came from Raimond Burgman against Gerwin Valentijn (40-31 in 22). It put The Hague safe, even though Eddy Merckx did get the better of Glenn Hofman, 40-28 in 17.
On Sunday, the team from The Hague had a walk-over: MCR was pushed aside 7-1. Glenn Hofman opposed a remarkably timid Thorsten Frings (40-15 in 28), Herman van Daalen subbed like he belonged, only Jeffrey Jorissen had to concede a point to Bert Hoefnagels (40-40 in 28).
The double win by De Veemarkt, still in the bottom of the league, was also noteworthy. On Saturday, they scored the maximum 8-0 against MCR, the certain nr. last this year. On Sunday, the home crowd witnessed a nice 7-1 victory over 't Hartje/Van Wanrooy. Tayfun Tasdemir was the best winner against Peter De Backer (40-17 in 23), Tolgahan Kiraz won the Turkish clash with Hakan Incekara 40-35 in 28. Dustin Jäschke beat Davy van Havere 40-30 in 38 and Huub Wilkowski shared with Frank Martens.
A1 Biljarts and DPC both scored three points in the weekend, and plan to make a bid for the play-off. A1 Biljarts won on Saturday thanks to Kay de Zwart making the equalizing point against Ad Broeders. Michael Nilsson beat Hakan Incekara 40-35 in 25, Martien van der Spoel got past Davy van Havere 40-24 in 28. On Sunday, at home, A1 Biljarts scored 4-4 against Dallinga.com.
Frédéric Caudron won the important point for his team against Michael Nilsson (40-22 in 20). The Belgian, winner of a Grand Prix on Friday evening when he beat Leppens in the final, captained his team on Saturday against STZ Zundert. The players from Brabant were surprisingly drubbed 8-0, and Caudron needed 18 innings to beat Roland Forthomme.
DPC is the number four on the table, after their 8-0 win over De Eekhoorn, and the 4-4 draw on Sunday against Bousema Lochem. Nikos Polychronopoulos won both his matches, one against Murat Naci Coklu (40-27 in 19), a day later against Frans van Kuyk (40-38 in 17). Over two rounds, it made the Greek the best player of the weekend. The away game against De Eekhoorn had four exciting matches. Danny Molier did the analysis: ,,We win it 8-0, but Eekhoorn comes up only 13 caroms short.''
On Saturday, the single point lost was mostly due to the match between Birol Uymaz and Gökhan Salman. Uymaz had 8 innings for his last 5 points, but couldn't get over the line: 40-39 in 29. In his former club home, Frans van Schaik won a charged matched against Richard Bitalis.
Bousema Lochem drew twice, on Saturday against DPC, on Sunday against L&B Ledermode. Murat Naci Coklu won the top battle with Eddy Merckx 40-29 in 18. Dave Christiani was the best man of the day against Stefan Galla (40-21 in 19), with his 18 run in the 3d inning. The player from Limburg was over the moon. ,,I have not played my best in the past weeks because I've been teaching so many hours and have not had the time to practice. On Saturday, I played miserably against Jean van Erp, and practiced for four hours afterwards. It paid off with this run. I am on the look-out for a house where I can have my own table. That would be a big step forward.''
His team L&B scored just a single point in two rounds. ,,It was a good chance to connect with the leaders, but we didn't do it.''
After the final round of the first half (11 played), the table looks like this:
1 SIS Schoonmaak 19 pts
2 HCR Prinsen 18
3 A1 Biljarts 13
4 DPC 12
5 L&B Ledermode 11
6 Team Eekhoorn 11
7 STZ Zundert 11
8 Dallinga.com 10
9 Bousema Lochem 9
10 't Hartje/Van Wanrooy 9
11 De Veemarkt 8
12 MCR 1.
The next round will be played on Sunday 7 January.