3-Cushion
MERKSEM/LIER - The hotline with the Mister 100 finally brought the good news right after midnight. BC Deurne was the champion of Belgium in the top class for teams, for the third time in a row. The Mr. 100 owner himself, Kurt Ceulemans, defeated Jean Paul de Bruijn around 25 kilometres away from Merksem, after a more exciting than high level match. That victory, in the Mr. 100, launched BC Deurne as the champion, because it meant the elimination for De Goeie Queue in the title race. The team playing in De Deken in Merksem, with Glenn Hoffman, Jef Philipoom, Jean van Erp and Davy van Havere, was rewarded with a small ovation by some 30 spectators.
The shining center of the joy was Jef Philipoom, the veteran of the foursome, who took the final victory with a flawless finish Mr. 100's second team (6-2). Glenn Hoffman won sovereign, like Jean van Erp did in the first part, only Davy van Havere ran into a strong Tom Persyn: 42-38 in 28 innings. The new, prolonged champion, had an excellent average: Glenn Hoffman 2.000, Jef Philipoom 1.612, Jean van Erp 1.750, Davy van Havere 1.357. Philipoom's victory was the result after an amazing final sprint: when he was 32-23 down, Philipoom reached the end in three innings with 16, 2 and 9. Jean van Erp later said: ,,What a strange match was this: Jef was in a very bad mood during 28 innings, complaining all the way. And then suddenly he made 27 in three innings, unbelievable.''
The pressure was on until the late evening, because BC Deurne depended on the result of De Goeie Queue in the away match against Mr. 100, after Deurne finished with a 6-2 win. With three matches to go, Deurne had a four match points and a 17 points advantage in match wins. Glenn Hoffman explained: ,,We should at least win with the same score as De Goeie Queue to be the number one.'' Whe the score was 6-2 in De Deken, De Goeie Queue led in the Mr. 100 6-0. The last match had to decide on an early championship. With a win for Jean Paul de Bruijn (and 8-0 for his team), Deurne was not yet the champion, with Kurt Ceulemans winning, the party could start in De Deken. And so it happened: Ceulemans and De Bruijn went up to 46-46, then Ceulemans took the win 50-47 in 42 innings.
The third title for BC Deurne in a row comes after a season in which the team showed more regularity than its competitors. Only at the end, two important points were lost, but that couldn't affect the comfortable lead. For Glenn Hofman, it was the first Belgian title in his first year for BC Deurne. The Dutchman was recruited as a replacement for Torbjörn Blomdahl, who wanted to more concentrate on his international activities. For Jean van Erp, who commented this was ,,the championship of the collective'', it was his third consecutive title. ,,And it is my fifth Belgian title in total, I am very happy with it.'' Jef Philipoom celebrated his seventh Belgian title.
De Goeie Queue put up a good fight in the away match against Mister 100 to postpone BC Deurne's championship for another week. Wesley de Jaeger was on his best against Raymond Ceulemans (42-23 in 18 innings, 2.333 average), Jerry Hermans beat Bart Ceulemans 42-38 in 35 and Frédéric Caudron was just a little stronger at the finish line than Peter Ceulemans (50-46 in 30). The 6-0 score gave some perspective, but the decisive match went to Kurt Ceulemans, who finished with two after two misses for De Bruijn: 50-47 in 42.
On this Monday evening, two more matches were played. Op de Meir took the away match against Kortrijk 5-3, thanks to a good win by Eddy Leppens vs Dave Christiani (50-45 in 26) and Ronny Brants' draw against Barry van Beers (50-50 in 40) . Frédéric Beghin was the only winner in the Kortrijk team: 42-38 against Ivan Stitschinky in 36 innings. Biljart Express secured victory against Zanzibar (6-2) with the most striking match for Frans van Kuyk against Roland Forthomme. The Dutchman came back after an early deficit (17-3 in 5), on a score of 39-30, Van Kuyk made his last twenty points in four innings with 11-4-1-4. Gerwin Valentijn went out with seven against Kenny Miatton at 43-37.
The ranking:
1 BC Deurne 20-31
2 De Goeie Queue 20-27
3 Biljart Express 20-23
4 Mister 100 Lier 20-23
5 De Witte Molen 19-23
6 Op de Meir 20-22
7 BC Herentals 19-22
8 Quality Zele 19-21
9 Kortrijk 20-18
10 Zanzibar 20-14
11 Mister 100 Lier 2 20-7
12 Eeklose 19-5.