Caudron and Nelin save 1 point for Babbelz

OOSTERHOUT - The one point was worth its weight in gold in the end. Babbelz, the Dutch league frontrunner in three cushion, withstood opposition from an absolute top formation last Sunday afternoon at home. Lochem-based Bousema was at its best to unseat the frontrunner in Oosterhout, playing a 1.837 record average, but Babbelz's two stars, Frédéric Caudron and Dion Nelin, showed excellent form in front of their own crowd, beating Tayfun Tasdemir and Martin Horn: which eventually earned Babbelz a 4-4 score. The competition crept one point closer: Cues&Darts and Zundert won their matches for the 15th round of play.

It was a day of varying chances and great matches again. Frédéric Caudron was the best of all with his mercilessly strong victory over Tayfun Tasdemir in just 12 innings (3.333). Other str4ong winners were Peter Ceulemans with 40 in 13 and Huub Wilkowski with 40 in 15. The Dutch clash between Dick Jaspers and Glenn Hofman turned into a thriller, in which Hofman had the win up for grabs, but Jaspers pulled out a draw.

Frédéric Caudron played a world class match for his team against Tasdemir. The Turkish recruit in the easter team had a best start with 11 in the second inning, but the final sprint was well ahead of Caudron. The score was 11-6 first, then 11-11, 17-17, that was the go-a-go signal for Caudron to attack irresistibly with 9, 8, 1 and a final run of 5: 40-26 in 12 innings, 3.333 and 2.167 average.

Dion Nelin's victory over Martin Horn was less spectacular, but very important as well. The Dane led 28-13, Horn still fought back with 10 (28-23), in the final stages Nelin snatched the booty 40-30 in 20. Half the spoils for Babbelz rolled in on the early carnival day for the city Oosterhout. Jeffrey Jorissen and Johan Loncelle countered with good matches. Jorissen beat Bulut 40-28 in 24 by a highest run of 12, Loncelle subdued Davy van Havere 40-25 in 19 innings, also a 12 run. Bousema played a record average with the team: 1.837 thanks to Tasdemir (2.166), Loncelle (2.105), Jorissen (1.739) and Horn (1.500). Babbelz countered with 1,797.

Team Eekhoorn, remaining second in the rankings with 4 match points down to Babbelz, had a dismal start against J&F Auto/Jorissen, the number penultimate in the rankings. The Hague players led 4-0 at the break thanks to Paul Bruijstens, a man with ups and downs, against Frans van Kuyk and Herman van Daalen against Jerry Hermans. For Van Daalen, a joyous player, there was a street-length lead on the scoreboard (40-21 in 28), Paul Bruijstens rose to high hights (in the closing stages 36-24), but allowed Van Kuyk to come way back and, after a couple of Paul’s misses in the closing stages, could just claim the win 40-39 in 26).

J&F Auto's could not bring that wealth over the line after the break. Murat Gökmen made a nice effort, also led the match against Nick Polychronopoulos for a long time, but finally the Greek went out 40-39 in 32 innings. Best man for Team Eekhoorn, who else, was Peter Ceulemans, who blew the roof off, winning against Kay de Zwart 40-17 in 13 (3,076). For Cues&Darts, also winners in the upper echelons this day, apart from Hofman's nice draw against Jaspers, there were only wins against Paperclip. Huub Wilkowski, the man in form, did so against Dan Breur with 40-21 in 15, Ruben Legazpi beat Anno de Kleine in 24 innings and Therese Klompenhouwer was the better against Marcel van Lieshout 40-30 in 32.

 Aartsbouw and SIS, two teams from the sub-top, shared the win in Aartsbouw's stronghold. Eddy Merckx suffered one of his rare losses, beaten by Raimond Burgman 40-39 in 23. Aartsbouw, with four foreigners, won with Turgay Orak vs Raimund Swertz and with Alan Schröder vs Martien van der Spoel in 26 and 28 innings. Harrie van de Ven saved the point for SIS by beating Wesley de Jaeger 40-34 in 21. The Zundert team was the better in Nieuwegein with Thorsten Frings the best player against Gerwin Valentijn (40-22 in 19). Only Henk Blaauwblomme played a draw for RCN against Forton: 40-40 in 40. Sam van Etten and Sergei Jimenez beat Barry van Beers and Dave Christiani in 24 and 25 innings.

Finally, Dallinga grabbed the win in Limburg against the far lower ranked team De Biljartacademie. The only winner for the Limburg team was Mathy Monnissen, who left Berry Dallinga far behind by 40-23 in 26. Jean Paul de Bruijn beat Roland Forthomme 40-34 in 29, Steven van Acker and Peter De Backer finished the job against Roy Zielemans and Paul Wallerand.

Frédéric Caudron, topmatch beating Tayfun Tasdemir

The ranking after 15 rounds:

1. Team Babbelz 25
2. Team Eekhoorn 21
3. Cues&Darts/Xtreme 20
4. STZ Zundert 20
5. SIS/Vervoort 17
6. Bousema/JBScues 17
7. RCN Nieuwegein 16
8. Aartsbouw/Domicile 14
9. Paperclip 12
10. Dallinga 12
11. J&F Auto 5
12. Biljartacademy 1

 Program next week Sunday:

SIS/Vervoort-Babbelz

Team Eekhoorn-RCN Nieuwegein

STZ Zundert-De Biljartacademie

Cues&Darts-J&F Auto’s

Dallinga-Aartsbouw