TURNHOUT/KORTRIJK - The first Belgian title now really beckons to the Mister 100 Lier team. The leaders triumphed in the tricky away match against Billiard Promotion Team this week, with a win for Peter Ceulemans over Jean Paul de Bruijn on center court. And with the ninth win in a row (!), Mister 100 now leads with four points ahead of Den Eik, which is probably the only remaining rival in the title race. ''We will still meet all the top teams from the rankings,'' Peter Ceulemans remains extremely cautious.
The Belgian leading player himself leaves for the World Cup in Las Vegas next Saturday and once again showed outstanding form on Tuesday evening. ’’I was leading 38-20 against Jean Paul in the 19th inning, no problem at all, but JP put in a strong final sprint. And I missed some difficult positions at the end, making it 40-36 in 26 innings.’’
The Mister 100 team has in Bart Ceulemans the player who scored the most points, which is a fantastic result considering his private situation with his wife’s serious car accident. The team can also count on a fighting team spirit: many matches were won 6-2, because if one player had a lesser day, the other three were good for the maximum score.
The frontrunners first play at home now against TBA and De Leug, then away against Den Eik, the top match, then at home against Op de Meir and finally away to Herstal. ''We look from match to match,'' Peter Ceulemans assured.
For Mister 100 this week, Jerry Hermans and Bart Ceulemans won against Marc Janssen and Peter Meersman in 34 and 29 innings, only Kurt Ceulemans lost to Danny Geysen 40-33 in 30. The victory meant that the leading team took one point more distance towards Den Eik, which drew 4-4 against Bruges. In that match, Eddy Merckx beat Steven van Acker by a generous score: 40-11 in 19 innings. Richard Bitalis was important for the team with a win over Bart Leys (40-17 in 30), for the Brugge players Henk Blauwblomme won in an excellent match against Davy van Havere (40-32 in 20) and Koen Saver as second best man for his team beat Ludo Dielis 40-37 in 32.
Op de Meir went for a comfortable win to Kortrijk (1-7) with Jef Philipoom the best man with a win over Ronny Brants (40-26 in 25). Barry van Beers was the only one with a draw for his team, against Martin Ravestyn, 40-40 in 26. Roland Uijtdewillegen and Ivan Stitschinsky beat Philippe Vandendriessche and Frédéric Beghin in 30 and 36 innings.
Biljart Express was very strong in the home match against De Witte Molen with 1.480 team-average. The standout of the evening was Frans van Kuyk, who left Tom Löwe far behind, 40-10 in 18 innings. The Dutchman started 8-0 and 21-8 in 16 innings and then made 16 and 3 for his last 19 points. Gerwin Valentijn had little opposition from Francis Forton (40-24 in 32), Guy van Litsenborg was a strong fourth man against Ad Broeders (40-28 in 28) and only Martin Spoormans lost to Dirk Weeremans 40-34 in 26.
For this Wednesday evening, the Mister 100 2 match against De Leug is in principle still on the agenda, but due to two corona cases, that match is still uncertain.
Frans van Kuyk played an excellent match for his team against Tom Löwe with a 16 run in the final part