LEUVEN/HERENTALS - The start was perfect, Dave Christiani's end of the match was fairly less. The Dutchman, second man behind Roland Forthomme in the Zanzibar team, started his match on Monday night against Eddy Willems from De Ploeg with 17 from the break, continued with 11 in the sixth and led 35-5 in six innings. ,,I took a break, but it would have been better to play on'', Christiani noted later. ,, Because after I started again, I lost my rhythm. I needed twenty innings for the last fifteen.'' Thus, a great start resulted in 50-25 in 26 innings. Zanzibar won easily 8-0. Roland Forthomme against Dustin Jäschke finished 50-23 in 25.
The twentieth week was dominated by the clash between BC Deurne and De Goeie Queue of course (8-0) and seems to be decisive for the championship. The leader (BC Deurne) needs only one 6-2 win in the next two weeks, which is expected in the next game against De Ploeg.
Two teams in the middle of the ranking, Op de Meir and Mr. 100 Lier, played a draw in an attractive contest, in which Raymond and Bart Ceulemans took a 4-0 lead for their team before the break against Roland Uytdewillegen (42-28 in 37) and Ivan Stitschinsky (42-15 in 35). Eddy Leppens and Barry van Beers pulled the score in balance against the two leaders of the Ceulemans team. Leppens beat Peter Ceulemans 50-46 in 33 innings, Van Beers won 50-38 against Kurt in 39 innings.
BC Herentals and Biljart Express played 4-4, especially the match between Martin Horn and Frans van Kuyk was remarkable. The Dutchman was by far the better at the start, leading 42-25, but then stopped scoring. That changed the face of the match. Horn had the last kick and grabbed the win 50-45 in 36. Gerwin Valentijn defeated Christian Rudolph 50-47 in 31. Martin Spoormans was 18-15 down against Leon Smolders, but ran to the finish with 4-9-1-10 to the finish 42-20 in 33.
De Witte Molen snatched a close victory over Biljartvrienden in its home match on Tuesday: 6-2. Raimond Burgman was the only winner for his team against Glenn Hoffman (50-37, 30 innings). John Tijssens led 21-10 after 10 against Francis Forton, but lost 50-35.
The battle at the bottom, where two teams have to relegate, is very exciting. De Ploeg 1 and Roeselare played a 4-4, so the score remained unchanged. De Ploeg 2 lost to Zanzibar.
Therese Klompenhouwer, who won herself (42-37 in 46) expects that her team De Ploeg 1 can escape. ,,We are one point ahead of Roeselare and play our last matches against Biljartvrienden and Biljart Express. Roeselare have to play Op de Meir and Mr. 100. So normally, we should be able to make it.