SLUISKIL/HAARLO - The title fight in the Buffalo league is entering the decisive stages. Two clashes involving the top four teams on this 17th day of play, with Dallinga.com and Eureka Billard (6-2 to Eureka) and HCR Prinsen meeting MC Breda (4-4) provided a lovely climax. Dave Christiani (starts with a run of eleven against Caudron), Frédéric Caudron (finishes that match with a run of eleven) and Roland Forthomme (final innings: eight and two against Dick Jaspers) were the sharpshooters. Eureka Billard takes the lead over Medisch Centrum Breda, by a single point. The two leaders play each other next week in Zundert. Eureka will then bring on Martin Horn as first player. Dallinga loses at home in this 17th round, and gives up the chase for first place. HCR Prinsen, certainly in today's line-up, is a formidable competitor.
Eureka already had a 4-0 lead in Sluiskil when Dave Christiani had a socket start against Caudron, making 11, 2 and 9 to lead 22-8 after three innings. Even that was not good enough to have Caudron beaten. Christiani: ,,I made a few mistakes in the middle of the match, and he instantly capitalized on that. And near the end, he showed how hard he can hit you. You feel he can make a run to finish at any time, no matter how big your lead is. It was 38-29, and he does exactly that: finish with an eleven. Luckily I made my remaining two in the equalizer.''
That match brought home the bacon for Eureka, but John Tijssens added to the win with another draw. He started with a 17-4 lead after five innings against van Acker, but the Belgian tied with three in the equalizer. In the first session, Ronny Brants had beaten Patrick Vasseur (40-27 in 30) and Raimond Burgman got past Jean Paul de Bruijn (40-33 in 26).
HCR Prinsen and MC Breda met in Haarlo, for another knife edge match. Peter De Backer was at his very best against Peter Ceulemans, and from 9-9 after eight innings, he decided the match with two deadly runs (13 en 8) to make it 30-9. Matters ended at 40-20 in 20. Anno de Kleine turned his opponent Raymon Groot into an onlooker: 40-7 in 17 innings. Barry van Beers beat Jelle Pijl 40-27 in 24. Roland Forthomme had a great finish to give his team a hard fought draw. The Belgian trailed the entire match against Dick Jaspers (25-18 in 8, 36-30 in 19), but his trademark fighting spirit overcame even the world number one, when he ended with eight and two in his last two innings: 40-36 in 21.
The best match of the weekend was played by Murat Naci Coklu for Bousema on Saturday evening against Burgmans Biljarts. Leading his team and playing Christian Rudolph, Coklu dominated from start to finish: 40-11 in 10 innings. Eddy Leppens needed sixteen innings to get to the finish, giving Bousema a crucial 6-2 victory because Markus Galla also won.
't Hartje/Van Wanrooy looked like winning against A1 Biljarts, when Jef Philipoom and Davy van Havere had played the first session. Eddy Merckx (40-36 against Savas Bulut in 33) and Gerwin Valentijn (40-37 tegen Hakan Incekara in 34) corrected the score to 4-4. Buffalo.nl had no mercy with TOVV 2, beating them 8-0 in The Hague. Glenn Hofman (40-19 against Kay de Zwart) and Jean van Erp (40-21 against Sander Jonen) were the best winners in 23 innings. TOVV/Royal Pro recorded a fine win over team Eekhoorn, 6-2. Birol Uymaz and Martin Spoormans did the hard work, beating Frans van Kuyk (40-36 in 31) and Kurt Ceulemans (40-30 in 29). Frans van Schaik had beaten Kenny Miatton in the first session, 40-36 in 40, Jerry Hermans being the only winner for Eekhoorn as he bested Richard Bitalis (40-38 in 38).
With five rounds stiull to play, Eureka Billard has the lead with 26 points, ahead of MC Breda with 25, HCR Prinsen on 21 and the three teams in pursuit, A1 Biljarts, Buffalo.nl and Dallinga on 20 points. TOVV/Royal Pro has 19.