ROSMALEN - You could hear a pin drop in De Hazelaar in Rosmalen, on the first day of the main draw at the three cushion Grand Prix tournament: all eyes were on Dick Jaspers, who showed up with a superb start in his last match and seemed on his way to a new world record. Rarely was seen, that a player started so furious and so majestic. The Dutchman, in top form on this first day, obviously had dealt rapidly with the jet lag after he returned from the Ho Chi Minh World Cup in Vietnam.
He started with 7, 13 and 12 (!), gathered 32 points in three innings on the scoreboard and then continued with a five, bringing him with 37 close to the 40-finish. The world record was in sight, but then the production halted: 1 in the 5th inning, 1 in the 6th inning and finally his last carom in the seventh for a final score 40-10. The world record is 40 in 6. But what a phenomenal performance of the Dutch man on this ordinary weekday in Rosmalen with 5.714 average. That means he played a new Dutch record to 40 caroms.
The average over three matches in the A group was impressive: 3.000: in his first match, Jaspers finish in 14 innings against Herman van Daalen and in his second in 19 innings against Adrie Demming 40-22. And he closed the evening against Wiljan van den Heuvel in the amazing 7-innings match.
Was there more to do on this first day of the main event? Certainly it was. Dave Christiani played a flawless pre-selection, in which het amongst others left Bert van Manen far behind (40-9 in 19) and defeated Jeffrey van Nijnatten in his last match 40-14 in 11 innings with a highest run of eleven.
Jean van Erp had a strong start against Peter Vlaar (40-31 in 22) and starred in his next match against Kay de Zwart on 31-25 behind with a run of fifteen to the finish. Sander Jonen, came into the main draw through the back door and now remained unbeaten in his group with victories against Jeffrey Jorissen (40-21 in 31), Ludo Kools (40-26 in 36) and Peter Berndsen (40-26 in 38). Therefor he reached the next round as the group winner. Jeffrey Jorissen recovered from the loss against Jonen with wins over Peter Berndsen (40-24 in 24) and Ludo Kools (40-24 in 33).
Herman van Daalen took second place after Jaspers by a victory in the last match against Adrie Demming 40-37 in 24. Jim Anneveldt won the marathon match against his fellow from North Holland, Peter Vlaar (40-39 in 59).
The final ranking of the first four flights (numbers one and two to the next round):
Dave Christiani made his 40 points in 11 innings
Jean van Erp reached the next round as group winner
Group A:
1 Dick Jaspers 6-3.000-13
2 Herman van Daalen 4-1.170-6
3 Adrie Demming 2-1.375-10
4 Wiljan van den Heuvel 0-0.862-5
Group C:
1 Jean van Erp 6-1.600-15
2 Kay de Zwart 2-1.103-10
3 Peter Vlaar 2-0.940-6
4 Jim Anneveldt 2-0.826-6
Group F:
1 Dave Christiani 6-1.875-11
2 Bert van Manen 4-0.809-6
3 Jeffrey van Nijnatten 2-0910
4 Marcel van Berkel 0-0.618-5
Group G:
1 Sander Jonen 6-1.142-7
2 Jeffrey Jorissen 4-1.147-12
3 Ludo Kools 2-0.803-6
4 Peter Berndsen 0-0.761-7.