OOSTERHOUT/HAARLO - The top two of the Buffalo league now has unexpected competition. Led by a flawless Dick jaspers, HCR Prinsen added a 6-2 to their consecutive 8-0 wins, beating Dallinga.com and reaching the shared nr. 3 position. But in spite of all the fireworks in Haarlo, Gerwin Valentijn remained the undisputed star of the fifth round. The former brick laying street worker exploded against Kurt Ceulemans with a forty in ten inning match, making his opponent look like a beginner when he allowed him four points, scoring 4-2-0-7-6-4-1-5-9-2 himself.
The player from Sint Willebrord, who transferred to A1 this year, had the day of his life and was crowned king of the (Eekhoorn) campsite for a day. Especially in the middle part of the match, he was playing in overdrive. Kurt Ceulemans, who spent almost all his time in the chair, was quick to comment. ,,I don't begrudge Gerwin any of it, I only wish I could have made a few more, myself. I could almost say: Gerwin was shooting from the hip, he lept out of the gate and crossed the finish line while I was still adjusting my boot straps.'' In summary: ,,Admiration and frustration together shook the hand of the master.''
With his formidable win, Gerwin sealed the deal for his A1 team against De Eekhoorn. The foursome led by Eddy Merckx saw their 8-0 result in a share of third place, with Dallinga and De Eekhoorn. On centre court, Eddy Merckx in the final match defeated Frans van Kuyk 40-35 in 23 innings.
Eureka Billard and STZ Zundert remained on top: Eureka did it with a 6-2 win over TOVV 2, STZ Zundert with a narrow 5-3 against Burgmans Biljarts. For Eureka, Dave Christiani was the best player against Kay de Zwart (40-11 in 20), Raymond Burgman beat Sander Jonen in 36, John Tijssens bested Ger Windt in 34. Hans van der Wurf provided the false note, losing 40-15 in 49 innings against Marcel Scheffer.
Dick Jaspers only rarely shows his true level in his own country, this year. But sometimes, the world class reveals itself. It looked like one of those days in Haarlo, because after a run of thirteen, Jaspers had a 26-10 lead over Jean Paul de Bruijn with only five innings played. Four innings later, the end was nearing (32-19), but then the machine started to stutter and de Bruijn could even get close.
Winning the match eventually, Jaspers brought Prinsen the win, as it had already built a 4-0 lead before halftime. Raymund Swertz (40-30 in 42 against Patrick Vasseur) and Anno de Kleine (40-24 in 25 against Bart Ceulemans) took care of that. Steven van Acker defended the colors for Zeeland, against a troubled Jelle Pijl, who had trailed 27-3 after 14 innings, then lost 40-27 in 24 when his equalizing run of 10 saved face.
The fifth day of competition showed the resurgence of Buffalo.nl , with a solid win (6-2) over 't Hartje. Glenn Hofman was too strong for Savas Bulut with 40-29 in 20, Jeffrey Jorissen (40-22 in 23) beat Frank Martens. A brilliant Davy van Havere rained on Buffalo's parade when he handed Jean van Erp a 40-17 in fifteen inning defeat.
Roland Forthomme on Saturday evening had one of his better performances so far. In his match against Marco Janssen, he finished in just 17 innings, beating the fellow Belgian 40-20. The derby in Brabant had an exciting finish, because Bert van Manen drew with Barry van Beers (40-40 in 36) and Rik van Beers had beaten Peter Ceulemans by a single point. It brought the meeting to a 5-3 ending, which left Burgmans empty handed, just like last week against Dallinga (also 5-3).
TOVV/Royal Pro joined the second echelon with a 6-2 win over Bousema Lochem. Frans van Schaik and Richard Bitalis started proceedings with a 4-0 lead at halftime. Martin Spoormans finished the job in the second session, against Gökhan Salman. The Belgian did trail at first (17-7), but got back to 24-23 and finished with five single points in the last five innings :40-30 in 31.