HAARLO - The top five of the Dutch three-cushion league has successfully countered the attacks on the positions. There was a hard fight in all matches for the 12th round. SIS Schoonmaak and HCR Prinsen both took the full profit at the end of the day. Raimond Burgman (SIS) and Jef Philipoom (Prinsen) won the match in the dying seconds against Jerry Hermans and Therese Klompenhouwer. The most striking match match in this round was between Glenn Hofman and Frans van Kuyk (40-9 in 16 innings), the best match came from Frédéric Caudron, who beat his country man Roland Forthomme 40-15 in 12.
After a fascinating afternoon, the top five moved further away from the other teams. All five top teams recorded a 6-2 final score. The match points were only shared in the match between Hartje Van Wanrooy and A1 Biljarts. SIS Schoonmaak now leads the pack with 21 points, four points ahead of STZ Zundert, five points more than HCR Prinsen and Bousema Lochem and six than L&B Ledermode. Caudron, Hofman and Jaspers won their matches in 12, 16 and 18 innings and were the star players of this match day. Martin Horn triumphed with a big margin over David Martinez (40-20 in 24), Eddy Merckx surprisingly lost to Ronny Lindemann 40-38 in 24 innings.
In the match between Prinsen and Burgmans, the last match between Jef Philipoom and Therese Klompenhouwer was decisive for the win. The women's world champion was close to the 4-4 score in the match. At 22-22, Klompenhouwer eagerly went for a leading score: 26-22, 31-22 and 36-30. At the end of the game, however, she failed to knock down the old fighter. Philipoom came with tactical and defensive play and finished the match at 39-39 to 40-39 in 38.
Dick Jaspers won his match against Marco Janssen after the Belgian led 16-4 in a quick start after three innings (9 and 6). The twelve-run of Jaspers brought the score back to 18-18 and the match in balance. Then, the world champion ran out to 28-19, 33-22 and finally 40-22 in 18 innings.
SIS Schoonmaak saw one of its spearheads make a misstep. Jean van Erp led comfortably against Kurt Ceulemans, was caught up in the middle part and defeated in the final sprint by the Belgian playing for Eekhoorn: 40-39 in 27. Raimond Burgman just was the better of Jerry Hermans (40-38 in 19), Jeffrey Jorissen, the multi-winner in this competition, defeated Kenny Miatton and the last knock-out was from Glenn Hoffman. The frontrunner in the Hague team outplayed Frans van Kuyk, first by 21-0 at the break, at the end 40-9 in 16.
't Hartje led 4-0 at the break against A1 Biljarts, but Javier Palazón and Christian Rudolph drew the score in the matches against Savas Bulut (40-32 in 24) and Martin Spoormans (40-34 in 38). Frédéric Caudron was superior to Forthomme: after 20-12 at the break, 40-15 in 12. He was the only winner in the Dallinga team, as Jean Paul de Bruijn lost to Peter Ceulemans (40-29 in 33), Steven van Acker to Barry van Beers (40-37 in 33) and Berry Dallinga to Rik van Beers (40-29 in 38).