ZUNDERT - The four teams for the play-offs in the Dutch three cushion league are known. SIS Schoonmaak closed the competition at 35 out of 22 matches, Bousema Lochem was the second at 32, STZ Zundert third at 30 and L&B Ledermode fourth at 29 points. The Zundert team was the last to advance joining SIS Schoonmaak, Bousema Lochem and L&B Ledermode. The semi-finals will be played from May 13th to the 19th or on Sunday June 2nd. SIS Schoonmaak, the number one, plays against number four, L&B Ledermode, Bousema Lochem, the second in the final ranking, plays against STZ Zundert that climbed to third place. These matches must lead to the double final on Saturday, June 8th and Sunday, the 9th.
The party in Zundert's billiard room on the final day, could start after two matches. At D'n Hoek's place, where the home team played the decisive match to make it to the play-offs, the fight was decided before the break. Barry and Rik van Beers won their matches against Frank Martens and Ad Broeders in 30 and 23. The two brothers, 43 and 40 years of age, gave the signal to the home crowd to cheer the team.
The first three finalists were known on Saturday on the first of the last two competition days. STZ Zundert needed at least a draw against Hartje van Wanrooij on Sunday and already did the job with the Van Beers brothers. The final score was 8-0 due to the victories of Roland Forthomme over Savas Bulut and Peter Ceulemans over Harrie van der Ven. That meant, HCR Prinsen, playing in the strongest line-up on the last weekend, was definitively eliminated from the play-offs.
Although the Haarlo team won the last match against SIS Schoonmaak 5-3, it was not enough for the final four. The most striking match in the SIS-Prinsen match was played between Glenn Hofman and Dick Jaspers. The Hague leader started with 6-6-5 and led generously 17-0, but Jaspers came back and even played a draw after a run of three in the equalizer: 40-40 in 22.
Bousema secured its second place with a great 7-1 victory in the away match against L&B Ledermode. Martin Horn and Dave Christiani played a draw in a high tension game in 19 innings. Murat Naci Coklu beat Eddy Merckx 40-39 in 24, Johan Loncelle, the revelation of the last part of the competition, beat Peter De Backer 40-34 in 31 and Wesley de Jaeger won against John Tijssens 40-23 in 27 .
Was SIS Schoonmaak not on its best in the last run-up to the final rounds with no wins in the last four games? Or was it because of a lack of motivation with the certainty of the leading position? Jean van Erp and Raimond Burgman did not have a strong closing weekend with four losses. The Trampe-boys could afford it and now have time to cheer themselves up for the title race. At SIS-Prinsen, Eddy Leppens won against Jean van Erp (40-29 in 22), Anno de Kleine against Raimond Burgman (40-30 in 35) and Jeffrey Jorissen against Jelle Pijl (40-30 in 30).
A1 Biljarts, which already secured maintenance in the Premier league on Saturday, defeated Dallinga 5-3 in the last game, with Frédéric Caudron and Javier Palazón playing a draw in 24 innings and Jean Paul de Brijn being the best winner against Birol Uymaz: 40-28 in 19. In Zundert, Roland Forthomme beat Savas Bulut 40-36 in 32, Peter Ceulemans won against Harrie van der Ven 40-34 in 30.
The team that is now still called L&B Ledermode, will play in Het Schuurtje in Maarssen again next season. "The name of the team is not yet known," says John Tijssens, responsible for the line-up. Gerwin Valentijn remains in the team, Ad Koorevaar is the new player and Tijssens will on three, Hans van der Wurf on four.
The team 't Ivoor closed the competition in a nice place in the top ten after the 6-2 win over Aardexpress in the last match, including Huub Wilkowski's victory over Ronny Lindemann: 40-36 in 28. The new Brabant formation at the highest level was told only a week before the competition that it was allowed to debut in the premier division. Jack van Peer, one of the players, summarized at the end: ''In a short time, something very nice has grown in Boxtel. Maintaining was our goal, we have achieved that. Huub Wilkowski made a great progression and the young foreigners Martinez and Melnytschenko also played a major role. With Dave Chrystiani and Therese Klompenhouwer as new players, 't Ivoor will be even stronger next season.''
Huub Wilkowski is waiting to see what happens to Martinez, who will play for the PBA. "We have a 90 percent agreement with Gwendal Maréchal, the French talent."
Burgmans Biljarts could not look back on a strong season with only four match points, but with the wonderful team's billiard center, it surely has shown itself to the Premier league.
The final ranking of the competition:
1 SIS Schoonmaak 35-1.425
2 STZ Zundert 30-1.294
3 Bousema Lochem 30-1.198
4 L&B Ledermode 29-1.361
5 HCR Prinsen 28-1.249
6 Dallinga.com 25-1.188
7 Team Eekhoorn 19-1.168
8 't Hartje van Wanrooy 19-1.106
9 't Ivoor 16-1.083
10 A1 Biljarts 14-1.083
11 Aardexpress 9-0.981
12 Burgmans Biljarts 4-0.984
The best averages (more than 5 matches):
1 Frédéric Caudron 2.253 (12)
2 Dick Jaspers 1.803 (12)
3 Birol Uymaz 1.762 (8)
4 Roland Forthomme 1.716 (21)
5 Eddy Merckx 1.661 (17)
6 David Martinez 1.655 (6)
7 Eddy Leppens 1.642 (16)
8 Martin Horn 1.622 (8)
9 Frans van Kuyk 1.595 (22)
10 Peter De Backer 1.568 (18)
11 Glenn Hofman 1.559 (22)
12 Johan Loncelle 1.554 (6)
13 Thorsten Frings 1.498 (19)
14Jean Paul de Bruijn 1.470 (19)
15 Jeffrey Jorissen 1.416 (22)
16 Jean van Erp 1.396 (22)
17 Dave Christiani 1.372 (18)
18 Raimond Burgman 1.351 (22)
19 Javier Palazón 1.337 (6)
20 Peter Ceulemans 1.339 (20)
21 Gökhan Salman 1.338 (5)
The best matches:
1 Birol Uymaz en Frans van Kuyk 4.444
3 Peter De Backer 3.636
The best runs:
1 Peter De Backer 26
2 Eddy Leppens 20
3 Roland Forthomme 18.