UDEN – The leading team of SIS Schoonmaak dealt with one of its rivals (7-1) and J&F Auto's has started a catch-up race that brings the Hague team still close to move up to the play-off positions. That is the outcome of the 19th match day in the DKM Tools league, the Dutch premier three-cushion league. The regular league is nearing the climax with three rounds to go and basically everything is still open, except that Post Luchtkanalen has been relegated and SIS Schoonmaak will almost certainly finish as the frontrunner.
The SIS team made a very good performance this Sunday in its home match against Dallinga.com, one of the previous champions in the premier league. SIS Schoonmaak won the match 7-1, partly thanks to Raymund Swertz, who played the best game of the afternoon, Eddy Merckx, who beat Jean Paul de Bruijn and Raimond Burgman, who won against a Belgian (Steven van Acker) who has been in good form for weeks.
What happened behind the leaders only makes things even more interesting for the coming weeks. Next Sunday, 7 May, will see the 20th round played, followed by the double round on Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 May. The most appealing matches in those final stages? Which actually aren't, as all teams still have something to gain in the final part.
The best example is J&F Auto's, which is still in a place where relegation is still imminent, but the team could just as easily advance to the top four thanks to two stunning victories. J&F travelled to Woonwonder this Sunday for an important match and won 2-6 thanks to Jeffrey Jorissen, Glenn Hofman and Joey de Kok with wins in 28, 24 and 37 innings. The Hague team now has 18 points, as many as Woonwonder and Dallinga, one more than Bousema and Burgmans Biljarts, one less than Zundert, just to show how exciting it is in these regions.
The round of play saw wonderfuel duels in a couple of arenas, with tension and two draws. What to think of Raymund Swertz, who showed Berry Dallinga the corners of the table winning 40-16 in 18, what about Eddy Leppens, who gave the usually feared Ruben Legazpi no chances (40-25 in 22) and Johan Loncelle, who had one of his better days and left PBA player Birol Uymaz far behind with 40-26 in 24.
Gerwin Valentijn, how unfortunate that he is quitting, just keeps playing around 2-average games for Dekker, which is increasingly emerging as a key rival for SIS in the title race. Because with Dave Christiani, Barry van Beers, Gerwin and Henk Blauwblomme, there was another strong formation showing up, which won smoothly 8-0 over Post Luchtkanalen.
Cues&Darts and Burgmans Biljarts played a draw to make it even more exciting, the same for Bousema and Team Eekhoorn, with Loncelle and Van Schaik winning for Bousema and Peter Ceulemans and Jerry Hermans for Team Eekhoorn.
Looking ahead to the next rounds:
Sunday 7 May include Dekker-J&F Auto's, Eekhoorn-SIS, Bousema-Cues&Darts and Dallinga-Burgmans.
Saturday 13 May include Woonwonder-Zundert, Burgmans-Bousema, SIS-Cues&Darts and Dallinga-Eekhoorn.
And on the final day Sunday 14 May: Cues&Darts-Dallinga, Zundert-Dekker and Bousema-SIS Schoonmaak.
The standings in matches and match points:
- SIS Schoonmaak 18-29
- Dekker Keukens 19-25
- Cues&Darts 18-22
- Team Eekhoorn 18-20
- Topbiljart Zundert 18-19
- Woonwonder 19-18
- Dallinga 18-18
- J&F Auto's 19-18
- Bousema 18-17
- Burgmans Biljarts 18-17
- Post Luchtkanalen 18-5