3-Cushion
HAARLO/DEN HAAG - The starring roles were for Thorsten Frings and Eddy Merckx, who both had strong performances. Most striking however, on the seventh day of the Buffalo league, was the strength of the two frontrunners and the inability of the peloton to keep up. HCR Prinsen and SIS Schoonmaak distance themselves from the rest on a weekly basis. At the end of the season, play-offs will have to decide about the title. If not, the league would by now have been reduced to a two-horse race between Haarlo and The Hague.
Is there a chance that the tension returns to the league, which is not even halfway at this point? It does not look like it, because on Saturday evening SIS Schoonmaak dealt with STZ Zundert, a candidate for the title in the past years (6-2) and HCR Prinsen produced another maximum win (8-)) to put them on 14 points after 7 rounds. Their match against De Veemarkt looked like a walk in the park.
The middle ground is occupied by the 7-point teams, who trail SIS by 6 and Prinsen by 7. Three of those six teams wasted precious points: A1 Biljarts lost against DPC, STZ Zundert was beaten by SIS Schoonmaak and Team Eekhoorn could only draw against Bousema (4-4).
Jean van Erp was the best player for SIS, with a rocket start against Peter Ceulemans (8 and 8 to lead 16-0 in two innings) and another run of ten in the eighth inning (27-18). He protected his lead well and won 40-33 in 19. Eddy Merckx was even quicker when he played Savas Bulut (40-24 in 17), but the best man of the round was Thorsten Frings. The German plays for red lantern MCR against Dallinga. The team from Zeeland were on their way to a comfortable win, but on one table they had to emphatically concede. Jean Paul de Bruijn, after a strong performance in the La Baule World Cup and fine play in the Grand Prix in The Hague, was overpowered by an inspired Thorsten Frings: 40-27 in 15 innings, helped by a run of fourteen. Steven van Acker, Bart Ceulemans and Berry Dallinga were able to secure the win for Dallinga.
De Haarlo-boys, who were not that far from an all-Prinsen final in The Hague between Jaspers and Swertz (van Beers and van Schaik prevented that), look unbeatable in the Buffalo league. Even if Jaspers is not in the line-up, they have a fine lead player in Eddy Leppens. This time, that Belgian was not the best of his team, but Jelle Pijl, who is putting together a fantastic season. His win over Dieter Grossjung was the best of the evening in Haarlo: 40-24 in 26.
The only loss for SIS came from Glenn Hofman, who is about to leave for the WC in Bolivia. He missed his chances in the final innings, with a miscue and a failed attempt at the break in the equalizer, giving Forthomme the match at 40-36 in 30.
DPC is the best of the middle pack, after their win over A1 Biljarts. Birol Uymaz beat Christian Rudolph 40-24 in 26, Martin Spoormans countered the quick attack by Martien van der Spoel (16-5 in 6 innings) and decided the match between the 20th and 26th inning, when his opponent hit a drought (40-31 in 28). Richard Bitalis and Addy Wienk drwe 40-40 in 43, Cédric Melnytschenko beat Henk Blauwblomme in a good match: 40-37 in 26.
Wesley de Jaeger (Bousema) had a surprisingly big win over Kenny Miatton (40-10 in 20), Jerry Hermans eased past John Schollink (40-17 in 29) and Martin Horn (win over Frans van Kuyk 40-28 in 29) and Kurt Ceulemans (win over Stefan Galla 40-37 in 35) decided on a 4-4 final result.
L&B Leermode, without team captain John Tijssens who was tied up elsewhere, won their away game against 't Hartje/Van Wanrooy by a 5-3 score. Eddy Merckx, as mentioned, was the best winner. The Belgian could certainly be one of the favorites in Bolivia.
A final word about the decisive play-offs at the end of the season: the nr. 1, 2 and 3 players in the team must have played at least five times in the regular rounds.