Highlights and missteps in Kozoom league

SIS Schoonmaak's maximum victory in the Dutch premier league was accompanied by two top performances. Eddy Merckx won his match 40-18 in 14 innings and a final 15-run. And Raimond Burgmans again showed his very best in his match: 40 in 16 innings. Other matches were also in the spotlights on this 15th day of play. Therese Klompenhouwer defeated one of the biggest talents among the juniors, Turk Burak Hashas, this Sunday afternoon, 40-37 in 26. Dekker's team, freed from concerns about the playing venue, beat Bousema by a generous score: 7-1. And Anno de Kleine overcame top Turkish player Omer Karakurt with a terrific run of 15 in the last inning: 40-35 in 20.

So what a day in the Kozoom league, where two of the leaders made a slip and fell slightly behind. SIS Schoonmaak had a carefree afternoon by the 8-0 against Aartsbouw, as said with a superb performance by Eddy Merckx against Ronny Brants: a superb 40-18 in 14 with runs in between of 11, 7 and finally 15 to the finish line. Raimond Burgman defeated Tom Persyn 40-20 in 16 and to make the front-runner's match even more impressive, Jean van Erp won against Dirk Weeremans 40-15 in 22 and Tom Löwe against Ad Broeders 40-19 in 31, yielding the impressive average of 1,927 for the front-runners.

Team Eekhoorn maintained itself nicely in second place through its 6-2 victory over its own DKM Tools team. The best victory was for Frans van Kuyk, who beat Roland Uijtdewillegen 40-16 in 21. Nikos Polychronopoulos was the better of Ronny Lindemann (40-25 in 24) and Peter Ceulemans, albeit not easy, won against Davy van Havere 40-36 in 41 innings.

Bousema (against Dekker, 1-7) was not the only team from the leading group to swallow a sensitive loss, as Christiani, Van Beers, Valentijn and Blauwblomme scored 7-pointers. Especially nice was the match between Barry van Beers and Johan Loncelle, in which Barry reached the finish line with 6 in the 23rd inning and Johan was able to equalize with 3. Another captivating battle was between Henk Blauwblomme and Frans van Schaik, won by the Belgian in the last innings with runs of 4 and 5: 40-39. Dave Christiani, on centercourt, beat Jeffrey Jorissen 40-29 in 19.

The Hague  team boss Cor Trampe predicted a sensational game for his team against Cues&Darts this week, usually certainly a feared opponent at home. The Hague leader was right. His team, still far from certain of relegation worries, won 3-5 in the away match. Glenn Hofman was the only one to win for Cues&Darts against Kay de Zwart 40-29 in 30. Pierre Soumagne did not get beyond a 40-40 against Joey de Kok, who scored a 12 early in the match. But two other 'Hagenaars' pulled off the win. Therese Klompenhouwer did so sensationally against Burak Hashas, whom she tormented with an 8 and 2x 4 in the closing stages. Remarkably, Hashas finished with 7 times a zero. ''I defended a little bit,'' Therese said afterwards, ''but he also missed some easy balls.'' So, at least, how did it come to the maximum win for J&F Auto's? Well, because Herman van Daalen outdid himself, beating Volkan Cetin 40-30 in 31.

Topbiljart Zundert lived up to expectations in the home match against Dallinga: 6-2. The only Zeeland win came from Peter De Backer against Francis Forton with 40-31 in 20. Thorsten Frings secured the win for the Brabant team by winning over Jean Paul de Bruijn 40-38 in 36. Also notable was that Lennart Schraauwen, a sporadic substitute, won against Berry Dallinga with 40-31 in 49.

Burgmans Biljarts and Team Nachtwacht played 4-4, most of all thanks to Anno de Kleine and his closing run against Omer Karakurt.

Eddy Merckx, fabulous match closed with a 15 run