3-Cushion
SINT NIKLAAS - Two teams in the top of the Belgian rankings didn't start their double schedule very strong this week. BC Deurne lost the home match against Biljart Express 6-2, partly because Frans van Kuyk bested Torbjörn Blomdahl. De Witte Molen was (also for his home crowd) punished by the leaders of De Goeie Queue: 8-0. The week, however, was mainly marked by another incredible match of Raymond Ceulemans. The legend (77) continues to amaze the world of billiard: he played his match for Mr 100 Lier, had a score of thirteen caroms in sixteen innings and finished in the next inning with a run of 21!!!
The two teams with a misstep on Monday, BC Deurne and De Witte Molen, catc up with a match for the ninth round tonight (Wednesday) in the highest class. BC Deurne plays at home against De Witte Molen. The other match for today, the last before the winter stop, is De Ploeg 2 tegen Op de Meir.
The losses of BC Deurne and De Witte Molen on the eleventh match day increased the lead of De Goeie Queue. The Salpho team is already the unchallenged winter champion and can't be stopped on its way to the title.
Op de Meir played a flawless match as well at home against Sint Truiden that was defeated 8-0. De Ploeg 2 won 6-2 vs Roya Bruges, Herentals and De Ploeg 1 played a draw.
Biljart Express won fifteen of the last sixteen matches now and took the third place after the excellent performance in Deurne. Frans van Kuyk didn't care about the reputation of Torbjörn Blomdahl, still the current number one in the world. The Dutchman started strongly 22-15 in eight innings. Blomdahl countered in the second part, but missed a few opportunities near the end. Van Kuyk finished in 25 innings, Blomdahl was 50-44 down for the equalizer, but scored only one point.
Jef Philipoom was leading 29-16 in the match against Gerwin Valentijn in eighteen innings. The Dutchman caught up with a few small runs and was effective in the end rush. He was 45-43 down and finished with seven: 50-45 at 33. Martin Spoormans led 15-9 after twelve innings against Jean van Erp. Then the Dutchman took the initiative, ran to 38-28 at 32. But the old fox Spoormans had a strong final shot with five, five and four: 49-40 in 35 innings.
Davy van Havere started off with twelve from the break and led 18-0 in five innings against Geoffrey Dresselaerts, the youth player who's a substitute for Guy van Litsenborg. Van Havere ran to 27-4 in ten innings and won after a small hick-up 42-26 in 32.
Dick Jaspers was the best man for De Goeie Queue in the match against De Witte Molen. The Dutchman defeated Francis Forton 50-18 in 23 innings. Frédéric Caudron did 26 innings over his match against Glenn Hoffman (50-28), Eddy Merckx defeated Ronny Brants 42-30 in 33 and Jean Paul de Bruijn won against Ad Broeders 42-31 in 33. Team average of the leader: 1.657.
Frans van Kuyk defeated Torbjörn Blomdahl and climbs with his team to third place in the ranking.
Eddy Leppens (32 innings), Barry van Beers (31), Ivan Stitschinsky (35) and Roland Uytdewilligen (38) were all way too strong with Op de Meir for Sint Truiden: 8-0. Herentals gathered its match points as usual due to Martin Horn and Christian Rudolph in the match against De Ploeg, that led at the break by wins of Dirk Weeremans and Eddy Willems.
KBC Zanzibar defeated Biljartvrienden 6-2 despite an excellent performance by Raimond Burgman, who defeated Forthomme 50-48 in 21 innings. Dave Christiani won the Dutch match against Jeffrey Jorissen 50-44 in 32.
De Ploeg 2 took the maximum match points against Bruges with wins for Jack Wijnen vs Henk Blauwblomme (50 in 30), Jerry Hermans vs Koen Saver (42-40 in 43) and Wim van Dijck vs Patrick Vasseur (42-30 in 28).
De Goeie Queue leads with 22 points after 11 matches ahead of Herentals with 15 and Biljart Express 14. De Witte Molen (13) and Zanzibar (12) have to catch up one match, Deurne (12 points) even two.
The last three teams on the ranking are Sint Truiden with 4 points, Biljartvrienden with 3 and Bruges with 2 points.