3-Cushion
ANTWERP - The Belgian league has still one round to go, but almost all decisions have already been fallen. BC Deurne took the championship two weeks ago, Op de Meir and Kon. Eeklose are playing in the second division next year and BC Lugo Deurne must try to save himself in the play-offs against degration.
Eddy Merckx has the highest average in 21 matches so far, Frans van Kuik made the highest run and Roland Forthomme the highest average in one match.
The season has been dominated by BC Deurne, although after four days the team was at the ninth place in the ranking, but the champion wasted only two points in the last seventeen matches. KBC Zanzibar was the main competitor until the end. BC Kasteeldreef, Geox Herentals, Mister 100 Lier and Quality Zele could not sustain the role of title candidate.
The highlights of the year were the match of Roland Forthomme with 4.545 average, the high runs of Frans van Kuik (27) and Henk Habraken (25) and the high overall averages of Eddy Merckx (1.868), Frederic Caudron (1.833) and Eddy Leppens (1.710), although they are slightly lower than the top three in the Netherlands for example, where Dick Jaspers is in top three with 2.030, followed by Caudron 1.892 and Horn 1.862.
BC Deurne had a superior year with Eddy Merckx, Jef Philipoom, Davy Havere, Therese Klomp and Ludo Dielis. ,,It's great to very motivated every week playing for the title,'' said Jef Philipoom, who won his fifth title in Belgium, four times he was champion in Germany and one time in Portugal.
Philipoom leaves the team of the champion together with Merckx. ,,They told us that there was not enough sponsorship, but now they say that we signed our contract for another team too early.''
Jef Philipoom leaves for De Ploeg, Eddy Merckx playes for BC Quality Zele next year. Davy van Havere, Therese Klompenhouwer and Ludo Dielis will stay. Dick Jaspers will strengthen the team, although the number of the world will not play all matches. Steven van Acker also comes to Deurne.
The top ranking after 21 matches:
Highest averages:
1 Eddy Merckx, 1.868, 2 Frédéric Caudron 1.833, 3 Eddy Leppens 1.710, 4 Martin Horn 1.666, 5 Frans van Kuik 1.580, 6 Dion Nelin 1.584, 7 Peter de Backer 1.554, 8 Roland Forthomme 1.525, 9 Jef Philipoom 1.447, 10 Peter Ceulemans 1.400.
Highest runs:
1 Frans van Kuik 27 1, 2 Henk Habraken 25, 3 Martin Spoormans 18, 4 Jef Philipoom and Christian Rudolph 17.
Top 5 best matches:
1 Roland Forthomme 4.545, 2 Frans van Kuik 3.846, 3 Eddy Merckx 3.125, 4 Frédéric Caudron 2.777, 5 Jef Philipoom 2.631.