MALLE/ZELE - The two front-runners in the highest Belgian three-cushion league are involved in a neck-and-neck race for the title in 2017. BC Deurne and De Goeie Queue, with Torbjörn Blomdahl, Jean van Erp, Frédéric Caudron and Jean Paul de Bruijn as shining players this week, just made a few mistakes so far. The teams in the hunt are losing contact. De Goeie Queue defeated one of the main contenders for a high position on Tuesday: Zanzibar was beaten 6-2.
BC Deurne travelled to Zele to meet a feared opponent. The two matches before the break were good for a 4-0 lead. Jean van Erp knocked down his Dutch teammate Jeffrey Jorissen from The Hague, who showed up with an absolute top performance on Sunday, but was far behind now against Jean van Erp: 42-15 in 20 innings. Van Erp's final sprint was strong: 21 in his last five innings, 10-7-2-1-1.
Torbjörn Blomdahl, who played seven matches forDeurne in the first half and will continue with seven in the second part, was just slightly better than Eddy Merckx: 50-46 in 32. It was Merckx' third strong opponent in four days: Jaspers in the bundesliga, Forthomme in the Netherlands and now Blomdahl in Belgium. Jef Philipoom lost to Peter De Backer 50-46 in 40 Davy van Havere secured victory against Mathieu Vlerick, 42-36 in 39.
Frédéric Caudron gradually regains his form, as he showed in the match against Forthomme. The score was initially not in his favor (20-9 behind in 11, 28-19 in 16). ,,Then I found my rhythm, started playing better, with more dare and suddenly I got more confidence'', said Caudron. His last 28 caroms were made in five innings, leaving Forthomme behind in the final stage: 50-45 in 24.
Jean Paul de Bruijn, who shines with a strong, constant series of matches, was matching for a long time with Dave Christiani (14-13 in 7, 31-28 in 17) but attacked at the right moment with six for on a 43-37 score. Caudron in his comments afterwards: ,,Jean Paul made a wonderful 'pique' shot in the length of the table, rewarded by a big applause in the room. The final score: 50-40 in 28. Jerry Hermans stood out against Jimmy Mues in an excellent match (42-36 in 29), Wesley de Jaeger lost to Kenny Miatton 42-36 in 32.
Frédéric Caudron just returned from South Korea, where he signed a contract with his sponsor Kimchi for five years with an option for another five years.
Peter Ceulemans played a stunning match with Mister 100, in which he bested Eddy Leppens to the line 50-49 in 24 innings. Mister 100's number one player had a better finish with six, Leppens (Op de Meir) missed twice in his last two innings, including the break to equalize. Kurt Ceulemans was not in the match against Barry van Beers (50-37 in 38), Raymond Ceulemans ran into Roland Uytdewillegen (42-32 in 34) and Bart Ceulemans had one of his worse days against Stitschinsky: 42-20 in 26.
Things are not going well for De Witte Molen in the competition so far. Glenn Hoffman, the leader in the team: ,,We don't play that bad, but we are not so lucky at the end of the matches. That happened again in the match against Herentals: Dirk Weeremans was just two points down, Ad Broeders even only one point.'' The only win for the Sint Niklaas team came from Francis Forton, who beat Chistian Rudolph 50-48 in 43 innings.. Glenn Hoffman lost to Martin Horn: 50-36 in 20.
Both De Ploeg and Biljartvrienden took one part of their match. The home team was leading 4-0 by Willems and Geysen, after the break John Tijssens (50-28 in 30 against Jack Wijnen) and Raimond Burgman (50-14 in 24 against Therese Klompenhouwer) repaired the balance.
Biljart Express and Kortrijk played a draw in a match in which Ronny Brants met a remarkably tame Frans van Kuyk on his way: 23-7 in 12 innings, after a comeback 29-26 in 23, but at the end, Brants took an easy 50-32 in 31 Martin Spoormans defeated Richard Bitalis 42-33 in 31, Gerwin Valentijn was the best man in the team with a victory in 25 innings, 50-32 after 22-3 in seven innings.