OOSTERHOUT - The margin at the top of the Dutch premier league three-cushion is widening every week. The supremacy of Babbelz, the frontrunner, is so big that any attempt to narrow the gap is foiled with flying colors. The gap is already six match points with five matches left to play. Babbelz was the better of city rival Team Eekhoorn 5-3 this Sunday, the winners were Frédéric Caudron and Berkay Karakurt, Savas Bulut signed for the winning fifth point. Bart Ceulemans was the best winner of all in this world-class field with 40 in 14 innings, his best game ever. And Berkay Karakurt shone with an 18 run.
The number one ranked team, Babbelz, played his way out of sight of rivals in an unbeatable series. Babbelz may prepare for the play-offs in the coming weeks and calmly wait to see which team will be their opponent in the last final match. Cues&Darts, Eekhoorn and Zundert are in favorable positions, but are making small slips almost every week. That widens the gap more and more. Berkay Karakurt shone for the top team Sunday with a run of 18 and a game against Peter Ceulemans 40-18 in 16 innings. Frédéric Caudron was evenly matched with Nick Polychronopoulos for a long time, but was ruthless in his final knockout: a run of 11 for a 40-34 win in 23. The important point for the full win came in the first part from Turk Bulut, who played a draw against Frans van Kuyk in 34 innings. That Kurt Ceulemans finished with a win against Davy van Havere was only for statistics.
The last match of the 17th day ended deep in the afternoon in favor of Dick Jaspers, who overcame Sergio Jimenez 40-33, taking his Paperclip team out of the danger zone and depriving Zundert of two match points again. For Paperclip, against Zundert, Anno de Kleine also won vs Sam van Etten (40-24 in 33) and Cédric Melnytschenko against Rik van Beers (40-27 in 35). Francis Forton was the only one to win for the Brabant team 40-39 vs Dan Breur. Bart Ceulemans (41, and still called Bartje in his surroundings) is fast becoming a wonderful late bloomer in the famous billiards stronghold. Peter's younger brother was the best in the entire premier league on Sunday with his win for Dallinga's team. ‘’I played my best match ever,‘’ Bart made clear, pointing to a 50 in 18, seven years ago. ’’It's nice to improve on that now at 41, but look out: my best years are still coming.‘’
The young Ceulemans' match against Herman van Daalen, a one-way game (40-10 in 14) was a match with many fives and one six. Incidentally, it was the only win for Dallinga, which lost 6-2 to J&F Auto's. Aartsbouw and Cues&Darts played a draw in an attractive encounter with all games at high level. The best came from Glenn Hofman, who handed Eddy Merckx a sensitive loss 40-23 in 16 after a decisive run of 10 in the final stages. Joey de Kok also won for Cues&Darts,40-26 in 23 vs Wesley de Jaeger. Victories for Aartsbouw came in the name of Turgay Orak against Ruben Legazpi (40-34 in 19) and Ronny Brants against Jef Philipoom (40-35 in 26).
RCN Nieuwegein and SIS/Vervoort also shared wins in their match with four very solid games. Dave Christiani was the highest in average against Jean van Erp with 40-36 in 21, Raimond Burgman and Harrie van de Ven won in 27 and 23 innings, Gerwin Valentijn was the better of Raymund Swertz 40-34 in 29. SIS boss Carl Verhoeven by the way made clear that his team will play with the same line-up next year.
Bousema came back from Limburg with a 6-2 victory after the win against De Biljartacademie. Three games ended under 20 innings: Martin Horn did so against Roland Forthomme 40-34 in 18, Jeffrey Jorissen against Dany Boutet 40-28 in 19 and Johan Loncelle against Thomas Broux 40-34 in 19.
Looking at the battle for the bottom positions, it was not a best day for Dallinga, except for that top game by Bart Ceulemans. Jean Paul de Bruijn, Peter De Backer and Berry Dallinga lost and so the Hague team J&F Auto’s could move closer by two points. With Mikaël Devogelaere (40 in 32) and Kay de Zwart (40 in 26), J&F left a strong impression. Dallinga is a bit more firmly in 10th position, meaning the Zeeland team will have to play for promotion/degradation. Sameh Sidhom does join the team in the coming weeks. Bart Ceulemans will leave the Dallinga team next season, as he and Tom Löwe will be the front men at Burgmans, which is a way ahead in the first division and will move to the premier league.
Berkay Karakurt, win for the leader with an 18 run
Glenn Hofman, important win for his team against Eddy Merckx