3-Cushion
BARENDRECHT/ZUNDERT - The best player in the double weekend for the Premier League in Holland was Jean van Erp, the most successful team SZT Zundert and Dave Christiani was one of the undisputed stars with his run of 18. MCR/De Uitspanning remained on top with a win and a draw. Jean van Erp lost his Dutch Masters title two weeks ago and played a poor World championship in Bordeaux, but he quickly found his form back. The 'Brabander' sparkled with two stunning victories for his team Buffalo.nl on Saturday and Sunday. To start the double, he defeated the Belgian Kurt Ceulemans 50-20 in 23 innings and one day later Jean van Erp defeated Anno de Kleine 50-30 in 17 innings. In the last match he didn't even have a remarkable start: 13 in eight innings. Then Van Erp first made first and five, followed by seven and eleven in his last two innings. In two matches, the ex-Master displayed 2.500 average.
Dave Christiani made his blistering run of eighteen against Raimond Burgman in the closing innings of the match. ,,I was 34-22 behind and then made 8-1-0-18. Unfortunately, I missed for 19 to finish it off. For the last point I needed three innings.''
The most notable match was the encounter between A1 Biljarts and Post Luchtkanalen. The A1 team won 5-3 and thanked the victory mainly to Eddy Merckx, who bested Davy van Havere 50-42 in 29. The other three matches ended in a draw!!
Henk Habraken tied with Raimond Burgman in 36 innings, Wilco van Wijk and Martien van der Spoel shared the profits in 52 innings and Marc Celen played a draw against Addy Wienk in 61 innings. The end result was a 5-3 victory for A1 Biljarts, that played a draw on Saturday against De Uitspanning. That match went in history as the meeting with the high runs: Dave Christiani (De Uitspanning) scored an eighteen against Raimond Burgman, Addy Wienk (A1) started with fourteen from the break against Jonen and Merckx made a fourteen against Leppens. The Belgian clash ended in a 50-46 win for Merckx in 42 innings.
Jean van Erp was not the only big winner for Buffalo.nl. Glenn Hofmann defeated Frans van Kuyk on Saturday with a final seven run 50-44 in 37 innings. And on Sunday the Hague-born kid drew with Dick Jaspers at Prinsen (50-50 in 23), giving Buffalo a 7-1 win.
MCR De Uitspanning came with a flattering victory from the match against De Distel on Sunday. Eddy Leppens finished only three caroms ahead of Gerwin Valentijn (50-47 in 27), Dave Christiani bested Jef Philipoom by one carom (50-49 in 34) and Thorsten Frings played a draw against John Tijssens (50-50 in 39). The only logical win was taken by Sander Jonen vs Hans van der Wurf: 50-19 in 58 innings.
Roland Forthomme and Peter Ceulemans both had a great weekend for Zundert. The leader of the team bested Frédéric Caudron in one of his rarely weak moments (50-28 in 32). Peter Ceulemans, recovered from a week of illness, outclassed Jean Paul de Bruijn 50-19 in 23. The remarkable outcome of the match was that Patrick Vasseur was the best man in the Dallinga team with a victory over Raymon Groot 50 -38 in 44.
The Zundert team returned with the full win from the away match against Holland Mineraal on Sunday, when Forthomme, after being 38-27 down, fought back against Murat Naci Coklu and won 50-47 in 21. Peter Ceulemans underlined his rising form against Stefan Galla 50- 26 in 22 innings.
Tayfun Tasdemir ('t Hartje) had a bizarre weekend: he defeated Martin Horn on Saturday in a superior match 50-19 in 24 innings. On Sunday, he was beaten by the revenge-hungry Caudron 50-14 in 20 innings. Dallinga won the home match 6-2.
MCR De Uitspanning is leading after sixteen rounds with 25 points ahead of STZ Zundert, that shares the second place with Buffalo.nl (23 points). A1 Biljarts is fourth with 21 points. Then there's a gap to Eekhoorn, that follows with 17 and Dallinga.com with 16 points.
Jean van Erp, two matches, 2.500 average