3-Cushion
OOSTMALLE - The leader in the Belgian league has lost its unbeaten status just before half of the season. De Goeie Queue lost without Frédéric Caudron, who left for a trip to Istanbul after the World Cup in Hurghada, against De Ploeg 2: 6-2. The other teams in the top three, BC Deurne and BC De Ploeg, took the maximum win on Monday (8-0) and brought back the tension on top.
De Goeie Queue is leading after ten rounds with 17 points, BC Deurne is one point down, BC De Ploeg only two points. De Ploeg tormented one of the competitors for the top three spots on Monday: BC Zanzibar was severely punished and sent home with 8-0.
Thorsten Frings pulled the trigger for the leader in his match against Eddy Leppens, whom he beat in a thrilling match by one single point. De Goeie Queue trailed 4-0 at the break after losses of Michel van Camp and Johan Claessen to Tom Persyn and Eddy Willems. Peter Ceulemans was the only winner for the home team: he beat Dirk Weeremans 50-42 in 43 innings. Eddy Leppens suffered his first loss in Belgium against Thorsten Frings 50-49 in 29 1/724/1.689.
BC Deurne took the maximum score in the away match against Koninklijke Kortrijk. Most striking was Dick Jaspers' excellent performance. The Dutchman was eliminated in the first round in Hurghada, where he played a disappointing match against Tayfun Tasdemir, the later finalist.
,,I can't explain'', said Jaspers, before he left Hurghada, ,,what happens to me at the international level, but I can't win tournaments for some years now. I really do everything to come back on top, a lot of practicing, work on my condition. I play very strong in the leagues and in the Dutch Grand Prix tournaments with high averages everywhere. But unfortunately not in high level tournaments.''
Jaspers showed it again in his first match after the Hurghada World Cup: he defeated Stany Buyle 50-19 in 20 innings, the best match of day ten in the league.
Eddy Merckx, Hurghada's winner, was a clearcut winner as well with a two average match against Martin Ravestyn (50-23 in 26). Jean Paul de Bruijn contributed to the high team average with 42 in 21 innings against Frédéric Beghin, only Davy van Havere was slightly less, but was good for a win against Steve Dorard (42-34 in 45).
Martin Horn was the best man for De Ploeg with a win over Forthomme (50-30 in 21). Jef Philipoom defeated Kenny Miatton 50-41 in 42, Jean van Erp dealed with Pierre Soumagne 42-15 in 22 and Wesley Jaeger showed a good form against Jimmy Mues 42-26 in 32.
De Witte Molen climbed up to fourth place in the table thanks to an excellent team performance against BC Op Meir (6-2). Ronny Brants and Francis Forton showed up with two average matches (2.333 and 2.173) against Marc Roofthooft and Henk Habraken, who scored 14 and 22 points. Glenn Hoffman outplayed his good friend Wim van Cromvoirt 50-32 in 31 innings.
BC Herentals and Mr. 100 Lier played a draw. Kurt and Raymond Ceulemans were the winners for Lier: Kurt 50-37 in 41 against Christian Rudolph, Raymond defeated Leon Smolders 42-20 in 26 innings. Dave Christiani played the best match for the home team Herentals: 50-25 in 30 against Bart Ceulemans.
BC Biljart Express tied with BC Op de Meir. The team leaders Frans van Kuyk and Gerwin Valentijn got rid of a 4-0 backlog at the break. Ivan Stitschinsky (against Spoormans) and Koen van Camp (vs Hans van de Paer) were the winners for Op de Meir. Gerwin Valentijn played an excellent match against Roland Uytdewilligen: 2.000 average.
BC Deurne took a team average of 1.642, De Ploeg 1.572 against Zanzibar. De Witte Molen did even better with 1.660.
Four players made over ten runs: Eddy Merckx and Dave Christiani 12, Francis Forton and Gerwin Valentijn 11.
De Goeie Queus is the leader after ten rounds with 17 points, one point ahead of Deurne, De Ploeg is third with 15, De Witte Molen fourth with 13.