TURNHOUT - Guy van Litsenborg's billiard arena in Turnhout opened its doors to sponsors, spectators and billiard fans this Monday evening. Two top teams from the highest Belgian league met this day with Biljart Express as host and Mister 100 Lier as feared opponent in the fight for the top positions. The victory ultimately remained at home for Biljart Express, but the success cost the home players blood, sweat and tears in front of just under100 fans. The match winner actually was Dave Christiani, who pulled off an important tour de force in his match against Jerry Hermans, although not without luck. That was in the second match before the break, as Bart Ceulemans had first beaten Biljart Express team boss Guyt van Litsenborg 40-33 in 31 innings to give Mister 100 a 2-0 lead. Jerry Hermans looked to increase that margin to 4-0 when he finished his match 40-32 in 30 innings, but Christiani plunged into an almost impossible mission to equalize with eight. That seemed to fail, but twice Christiani was helped by a lucky shot and finally reached 40-40. The score was therefore 1-3 for Mister 100.
The home crowd, put in a very good mood by Guy van Litsenborg and his team, with renowned chocolate and seafood producers in the front rows, sat up for a wonderful finish. Frans van Kuyk, still outstanding in the Netherlands on Sunday, faced Kurt Ceulemans and Eddy Merckx, unbeatable for a few weeks now, faced Peter Ceulemans. So the omens were extremely favorable for Biljart Express, which could level with the leader when they managed to win the match. Frans van Kuyk and Kurt Ceulemans were evenly matched for a long time. Just before the finish the advantage went to Van Kuyk, who won 40-36 in 29 innings. And of course Eddy Merckx, the World Cup winner in Korea last week and twice winner in the Netherlands this weekend, also confirmed his superb form.
The multi-winner of the Belgians showed his great sportsmanship along the way, by going to sit after a debatable point (two or three cushions). Peter Ceulemans evened the score with a run of five, but with short attacking blows Merckx was the first to finish, after Ceulemans had missed the equalizer: 40-29 in 22. The outcome therefore: 5-3 for Biljart Express.
The match counted for the 9th round, which had been played last week and in which Herstalien had taken the lead with 14 match points. Biljart Express came alongside with Monday's two points and Mister 100, the champion, dropped to 4th place, shared with Op de Meir.
In this round, Herstalien had rolled up the Billiard Promotion team 8-0, including a great win by Roland Forthomme against Jean Paul de Bruijn: 40-25 in 24. Driebanden club De Leug grabbed third place by an away win against De Ploeg 2-6, including wins for Davy van Havere against Dustin Jäschke by a street-length margin: 40-14 in 22 and a precious win by Andy de Bondt against Eddy Willems (40-39 in 35).
Op de Meir won the home match against KBC Brugse thanks to Barry van Beers, Roland Uijtdewillegen and Wesley de Jaeger in 22, 43 and 36 innings. Only Jef Philipoom lost for the home team against Steven van Acker by 40-29 in 25. De Leug 2 was trounced at home by KBC Kortrijkse 0-8 (again a good leading man Ronny Brants against Johan Loncelle, 40-30 in 31) and De Witte Molen brought home the full points from the move to T's Place: 2-6. Frédéric Mottet was the best winner for the Sint Niklase team against Peter De Backer: 40-36 in 22.
Roland Forthomme, winner against Jean Paul de Bruijn