RANST/SAINT NICOLAS - The competitors of BC Deurne in the Belgian league made another (half) misstep in the forth round. The leader increased its leading position again and may be considered, far in advance, as the number one contender for the championship. The team with Torbjörn Blomdahl (returned despite his announced farewell), Jef Philipoom, Jean van Erp and Davy van Havere took another important hurdle with a 7-1 victory over Op de Meir. The match Merckx-Horn was an eye catcher in another billiard room. Eddy Merckx: ,, I was 40-31 down, went out with 8, 7 and 4, Horn needed eight in the equalizer and missed after seven.''
Roland Forthomme (50 in 16 innings), Frédéric Caudron (50 in 18) and Eddy Merckx (50-49 against Horn in 19) were the best players in the fourth round. BC Deurne leads with the maximum 8 points after four rounds followed by De Goeie Queue with six points. KBC Kortrijk surprisingly climbed to third place, shared with Mister 100 and Biljart Express. De Witte Molen and De Ploeg remain without points.
Jean van Erp, who played the only draw for BC Deurne, drew up the balance after the match against Op de Meir: ,,We can be very satisfied after four wins against four strong opponents: Op de Meir, Zanzibar, Biljart Express and Herentals.'' BC Deurne is on track, that can be clear after the start. De Goeie Queue, Zanzibar and Op de Meir are a little further behind.
Jef Philipoom was the best man in the Deurne team with a victory over Barry van Beers, whom he left behind with an imposing sixteen in the second inning. Torbjörn Blomdahl and Eddy Leppens played a defensive match, the balls were not very friendly, both players had to put up a hard fight. Blomdahl was the best at the end 50-43 in 44. Jean van Erp had a tough match against Roland Uytdewillegen, was 37-25 down, yet came back, but missed five times for his last carom. The equalizer was good for the 42-42. Davy van Havere was superior in his match against Ivan Stitschinsky: 42-19 in 26.
Frédéric Caudron, in top form again the last two weeks, started with a nine from the break and left Frans van Kuyk at 28-13 after 11 innings. The Dutchman attacked with 13 later in the match, followed by four. Caudron was warned and closed the match with 6-8-0-4-0-4. Wesley de Jaeger scored on decisive moments and restrained Martin Spoormans in the first session in 28 innings. Gerwin Valentijn brought his team in balance. The best player in the Dutch league last weekend (40 in 10 innings) had a flying start again against Jean Paul de Bruijn (31-14 in 14). His opponent fought himself back in the match at 45-37 and 49-47, but Valentijn then finished with a lucky shot. Thanks to Caudron (win) and Guy van Litsenborg (win over Jerry Hermans in 37 innings) the match ended 4-4.
The Ceulemans team returned with a well deserved win from De Witte Molen. For the home team only Dirk Weeremans managed to win, because Bart Ceulemans (35-8 in 22), in his own words, took a day off. Peter Ceulemans, who changed jobs and had some lesser weeks, could once again shine with a 50-48 against Glenn Hoffman, who came close with five in the equalizer (50-48 in 26). The so often elusive Francis Forton (last week in France a draw against Blomdahl, 50-50) started with 11 from the break against Kurt Ceulemans, but Kurt had an excellent day and turned the match into 50-43 in 28.
Zanzibar and Biljartvrienden played an exciting match (4-4), in which Forthomme played sublimely against Raimond Burgmans. The Belgian won 50-22 in 16, the match of the day. John Tijssens, who started a new life, showed his confidence at the table and won 50 -33 in 29 against Dave Christiani.
The tension was on in three matches in the bump between BC Herentals and BC Quality. Eddy Merckx had the better sprint than Martin Horn (50-49 in 19), Peter De Backer defeated Christian Rudolph by three points (50-47 in 43) and Mathieu Vlerick lost on one carom to Geert Meylemans (42-41 in 40) . Jeffrey Jorissen was the most convincing winner, 42-28 in 25 against Leon Smolders.
KBC Kortrijk climbed to the upper echelons and pushed De Ploeg a little further down by an 8-0 victory. Richard Bitalis and Frédéric Beghin were the best winners with 1.312.
Roland Forthomme, best match on fourth week