HALLE-ZOERSEL/DEURNE/LEUVEN - The fabulous night of Eddy Merckx and Frédéric Caudron, in a match for the Belgian league, was one to remember for a long time. The two Belgian world players, dethroned as the world champions for national teams last weekend, apparently were inspired to play incredible high level matches with De Goeie Queue. Eddy Merckx played a majestic match again: 50 points in 11 innings with a final run of 17. Frédéric Caudron finished in fifteen innings.
This is the week of the Super Cup in Antwerp and the two big guns are not amongst the stars in their own country. That is not so strange in this year that five, six players almost weekly play world class matches and break records. Eddy Merckx and Frédéric Caudron do it almost every week, even in venues where the big audience doesn't come and the reigning Belgian team champion meet its opponents. De Goeie Queue leads the competition in Belgium, that certainly will be decided in the match against BC Deurne, the team of Torbjörn Blomdahl.
Rarely there were two matches on one night in one of the national competitions with so many high class playing and great performances as last night at De Ploeg in Halle-Zoersel, where De Goeie Queue played against De Ploeg 2, the team at the bottom of the ranking. Before the break, Jean Paul de Bruijn and Jerry Hermans finished their 42 points in 28 and 26 innings with a run of fifteen of Jerry Hermans, one of the upcoming stars from the Netherlands. After the break and the 4-0, hell broke lose in Danielle de Bruyn's café. Eddy Merckx against Eddy Willems and Frédéric Caudron against Dustin Jäschke were matches without a any tension: the show was made by the world stars.
Frédéric Caudron opened even more spectacular than Merckx with 0-5-7-12-13 for 37 caroms in five innings. He finished with three and six and scored the fifty in fifteen innings. Eddy Merckx, for weeks in his best form, highlighted by a match in Paris, had a cautious start: 6-1-10-5. Then 'the cannibal', like his famous namesake in the cycling peloton once was called, even missed three times in a row. The finish was from a magisterial level again: 4-5-2-17 !! That made 50 in 11.
The leader, BC Deurne, did less spectacular but also won easy 8-0, beating a much better opponent. Torbjörn Blomdahl defeated Raimond Burgman 50-34 in 23, Jef Philipoom knocked down his Dutch teammate John Tijssens 50-36 in 32. Jean van Erp won in 27 Davy van Havere in 41.
Is Zanzibar definitively out for the title race after the draw on Monday night in a home match against Biljart Express? Frans van Kuyk was the star of the evening with a win over Roland Forthomme 50-27 in 17 innings. Gerwin Valentijn got the better in the match against Dave Christiani 50-38 in 23.
BC Herentals defeated DOS Roeselare 8-0 thanks to amongst others victories from Martin Horn against Steven van Acker (50-26 in 25) and Christian Rudolph vs Cédric Melnytschenko (50-31 in 20).
Four games were played on Monday, followed tonight, Tuesday, by De Witte Molen against Mr. 100 Lier and Op de Meir against De Ploeg 1.
The best matches on Monday:
Eddy Merckx 4.545
Frédéric Caudron 3.333
Frans van Kuyk 2.941
Christian Rudolph 2.500
Torbjörn Blomdahl 2.173
Gerwin Valentijn 2.173
Martin Horn 2.000.
Frédéric Caudron finished his match in 15 innings