OOSTMALLE/HALLE-ZOERSEL - The leading role in the fifth round of the Belgian league was not played by one of the stars in three cushion. The Dutchman Jack Wijnen from Dongen in Brabant, playing for De Ploeg, was the absolute star of the playing round with a match over 50 points in only 13 innings against Barry van Beers: 50-33, averages 3.846/2,538. The second best, by a distance, was Gerwin Valentijn, who underlined his top form with a 50-points match in nineteen innings.
On top of the ranking almost nothing changed: BC Deurne remained the leader by defeating Kortrijk 6-2, De Goeie Queue is the main pursuer after the victory over BC Herentals 6-2. Biljart Express climbed to third playce by a convincing victory over Biljartvrienden (8-0). De Witte Molen, in the top of the ranking for a long time last year, is stiff down after five laps and still waiting for its first match point.
Without Torbjörn Blomdahl on first position, BC Deurne succeeded to keep the lead with an unbeaten status. The victory over Kortrijk was not really convincing: Jean van Erp was the best winner with 1.351 (run 11). Richard Bitalis came close to beat Davy van Havere to take the draw for Kortrijk. The Belgian was the better in the final part of the match: 42-40 45. De Goeie Queue came to fight a strong opponent in its own Salpho home: BC Herentals showed up with its two German leaders and started with nefarious plans. But ultimately only Christian Rudolph came back with a strong performance and a win over Jean Paul de Bruijn 50-38 in 22 innings. Frédéric Caudron defeated Martin Horn in an always interesting encounter, 50-45 in 27 Wesley de Jaeger was stronger than Leon Smolders (42-29 in 35) and Jerry Hermans took the match points against Geert Meylemans, 42-37 in 37.
Biljart Express recorded a flawless match against Biljartvrienden, that couldn't match at all in the four games to threaten the regional opponent. Gerwin Valentijn demonstrated again the excellent form in which he finds himself for some weeks, now against former teammate John Tijssens: 50-27 in 19. Frans van Kuyk defeated Raimond Burgman in the other Dutch encounter 50-41 in 25 innings.
Mister 100 has lost connection with the top of the ranking in the past two weeks. The Ceulemans teams was defeated in its own house by Zanzibar: 6-2. Best winner was Kenny Miatton, who already performed strong in the Superprestige, but complained for several weeks about his lesser form. The victory over Raymond Ceulemans was startling: 42-18 in 23. Kurt Ceulemans took the only win for the home team against Dave Christiani, 50-46 in 38. Roland Forthomme notched the full win against Peter Ceulemans 50-43 in 30.
BC Quality Zele took out a 'clean sweep' and pushed De Witte Molen deeper in trouble. Eddy Merckx showed no mercy with Glenn Hoffman (50-18 in 22), Peter De Backer, Jeffrey Jorissen and Mathieu Vlerick triumphed in 28, 31 and 31 innings.
BC Op Meir can't live up to the high expectations that Eddy Leppens had before the season started. The draw for the team (4-4) against De Ploeg was a setback. Leppens was the only winner against Therese Klompenhouwer (50-32 in 32). Jack Wijnen was firmly in the spotlight with his 13 inning win against van Beers, the other two matches ended in draws.