HERSTAL - That was one of these days again when Roland Forthomme once again was on fire in his billiard hall in Herstal. The Belgian, a man of outliers, co-holder of the world record best run (28) and virtually unbeatable when it comes to Belgian league matches this season. The Walloons, contenders for the title, played at home against KBC Brugge on Friday night. Forthomme colored the evening against Steven van Acker at a key moment in the match with runs of 6 and 18 for 30-12 in 10 innings. Forthomme eventually won 40-27 in 21.
That was good enough for his team to secure a draw (4-4). He realized it together with Pierre Soumagne, who won with a 10 run against Henk Blauwblomme 40-36 in 27. In the first part of the match, Koen Saver and Bart Leys won their matches against Broux and Boutet in 28 and 36 innings, so the Bruges team led 0-4 at the break.
In the rankings, Herstal fell one point behind Biljart Express, as the leaders won 6-2 at T's Place with a superb average: 1.628. Eddy Merckx was the better of Peter De Backer in 21 innings and was the best winner for his team. Huub Wilkowski was the only winner for the home team (40-38 against Frans van Kuyk in 22 innings). Dave Christiani won in 24 innings, Martin Spoormans in 30, against Freddy Staelens and Patrick Kesteloot respectively.
The number 3 of the rankings, Op de Meir, had no troubles with De Ploeg and won the match 8-0 thanks to Jef Philipoom, Barry van Beers, Roland Uijtdewillegen and Wesley de Jaeger. Mister 100 and BC De Leug, in the group of chasers, played a draw against each other. Kurt Ceulemans made a run of 14 on his 61st birthday and won against Davy van Havere 40-21 in 23. Peter Ceulemans beat Jeffrey Jorissen, one of the players he will see in the World Cup in Sharm El Sheikh these days, 40-34 in 20. A notable score: Therese Klompenhouwer defeated Jerry Hermans 40-38 in 29 innings (1.379 average).
Four teams share the last place in the rankings with six points out of 10 matches. Promotion Team and Driebanden club De Leug 2 are among those four teams after they played a draw against each other this week. Among the leading players, Johan Loncelle was the best winning against Jean Paul de Bruijn 40-30 in 26.
Kortrijk leads the middle order with Mister 100 after the home victory over De Witte Molen: 6-2. Ronny Brants played the best match of this matchday with a win over Adrien Tachoire: 40-18 in 19 innings. Martin Ravestyn and Frédéric Beghin were the other winners for the Kortrijk team.