Belgians are the match winners in Dutch league

OOSTERHOUT - For four matches played in the Dutch premier three-cushion league, thirteen Belgians crossed the border this Sunday. Ten of these 13 won their matches, two lost to another Belgian, only Ronny Brants was a losing Belgian playing to a strong German. Roland Forthomme and Francis Forton paved the way for Zundert's victory, Peter and Kurt Ceulemans shone for the winning Team Eekhoorn and Martin Spoormans was a remarkable match winner for 't Hartje.

The small schedule of four matches shook the top of the league table. Frontrunner SIS Schoonmaak, which enjoyed a free match day, saw two competitors make costly missteps. Two teams from the Brabant town of Oosterhout were shining winners, the third team from the Brabant stronghold was only one carom away from the maximum win.

A1 DPC was beaten 6-2 at 't Hartje, where Martin Spoormans decided the match definitively by a victory against Jacob Haack Sörensen (40-37 in 40 innings). Cues & Darts ran into the same 6-2 score in the home match against Team Eekhoorn, where not only two Ceulemans guys, but also team captain Jerrie Hermans pulled the trigger. And in the Brabant derby, between two teams that are only 10 kilometers from each other, the Zundert team, led by Roland Forthomme and Francis Forton, climbed to a shared second place by a 6-2 victory over the number last in the ranking, Sprundel, where only Dutch master Ludo Kools won his match with young Noord-Holland player Sam van Etten: 40-36 in 31. The three foreigners in the team could not prevent Aartsbouw's sixth loss. Leppens was trumped by Forthomme (40-30), Rudolph by Forton (40-31) and Brants even more embarrassed by Frings (40-16).

Four outside-players showed up for the best games in the battered competition round, in which Dick Jaspers, Jean van Erp, Jeffrey Jorissen and other Dutch leaders did not play. Roland Forthomme, Peter De Backer and Jef Philipoom won in 20 innings (two on average), Thorsten Frings needed one more inning. De Backer saved one point for Dallinga, because Jack Wijnen missed the break shot in the equalizer at 40-39. Philipoom, rarely seen in the highest Dutch and Belgian divisions anymore, proved that he still can score on a high level. He was the only winner for the Cues&Darts team.

The results:

STZ Zundert-Aartsbouw Sprundel 6-2
Roland Forthomme-Eddy Leppens 40-30 (20)
Thorsten Frings-Ronny Brants 40-16 (21)
Francis Forton-Christian Rudolph 40-31 (36)
Sam van Etten-Ludo Kools 36-40 (31)

DKM Tools-Dallinga.com 4-4
Roland Uijtdewillegen-Jean Paul de Bruijn 40-36 (34)
Jack Wijnen-Peter De Backer 39-40 (20)
Joey de Kok-Steven van Acker 27-40 (34)
Eddy Willems-Berry Dallinga 40-36 (38)

't Hartje van Oosterhout-A1 DPC/De Kuul 6-2
Martin Spoormans-Jacob Haack Sörensen
Frank Martens-Jelle Pijl 40-36 (26)
Ad Broeders-Kay de Zwart 31-40 (38)
Ivan Stitschinsky-Addy Wienk 40-21 (39)

Cues & Darts/Xtreme-Team Eekhoorn 2-6
Jef Philipoom-Frans van Kuyk 40-34 (20)
Jack van Peer-Peter Ceulemans 34-40 (23)
Wesley de Jaeger-Kurt Ceulemans 34-40 (37)
Huub Wilkowski-Jerry Hermans 24-40 (34)