BLANKENBERGE - We can be sure of it: there will be a day when Frédéric Caudron makes the maximum run of 250 in one cushion. He did not succeed so far; four other players have managed to make the run from the break: Luxemburger Fonsy Grethen, Belgian Peter De Backer, German Wolfgang Zenkner and Dutchman Jean Paul de Bruijn.
Frédéric Caudron, with his gorgeous honor role 'King in one cushion' added his eighteenth Belgian title this afternoon to the long list of achievements. Fifteen of them he took almost in a row: only Peter De Backer disturbed the serie in 2003 with his match of 150 in one inning.
The history of this discipline has more wonderful stories. Ludo Dielis and Alain Remond, who are in Blankenberge this week, remembered the run of Francis Connesson in Bruges, in the notorious little pit in the billiards. He made his famous 199 run there.
Ludo Dielis:,, I finished a match in a European championship with 169 against Hans Vultink.'' And Alain Remond, a specialist himself: ,,Wolfgang Zenkner made the highest prolonged run ever with 284.''
The numbers will always stay in historical books, like the titles of Frédéric Caudron. He had a feared opponent to defeat in his last fight today, but outplayed Peter De Backer after runs of 43 and 55 in the first three innings with 150-94 in six innings.
Caudron began his long serie in Belgium in 1991 in La Bouverie, when he beat Eddy Leppens in the final and finished 10.92, preceded by a long period with Raymond Ceulemans and Ludo Dielis and two one-year starts, Peter Bracke and Willy Leman.
The record average of Caudron dates from 2007 in Blankenberge, when he was in the final against Peter De Backer and ended up with 27.27.
Today he crowned his tournament against De Backer, finished with 8 match points and 15.00 average, mainly due to one lesser game against Francis Forton in 19 innings.
Peter De Backer made the highest run with 79. On the podium were Caudron, De Backer and Leppens.