CAPELLE/SAS VAN GENT/APELDOORN - There is no more hope for Capelle, but the teams of Post Luchtkanalen and Ripa Recycling are engaged in an all-out fight for tenth place in the division of honor. Post Luchtkanalen did well to score full points in Apeldoorn against A1, but to their surprise they made little progress. The competition (Ripa) also booked a win, so the difference between the two teams remains at a single point.
A1 showed up without their number 1 player Raimond Burgman, but substitute Therese Klompenhouwer filled in with flair: she beat Henk Habraken 50-29 in 42. Post Luchtkanalen, in its strongest line-up with Horn and van Havere, won the other three matches. Blauwblomme-Van Havere was tight, but Horn and Van Wijk won by a margin.
For Ripa, there were solid victories by Jens van Dam and Ronny Daniels, with Cees Wittens facing little or no resistance. The spectacular win by Martin Spoormans over his countryman "Cisse" Forton (15-50 in 18) was just for personal glory and statistics.
Higher up on the table, Biljartcafé Jorissen booked an important victory over MCR/De Uitspanning, showing up without Leppens.
Christiani replaced him well, he beat Hofman in 34 innings. Van Erp (in 26 against Bitalis), Jorissen (in 39 against Uytdewilligen) and Van Daalen (50-49 in 54 against Jonen) kept the points home. With just three rounds to play and their eyes on the play-offs, Jorissen now has a two point margin over the number 5, De Distel.
AEJ Dallinga is certain of those play-offs of course. It went to Zundert to meet Pressplate, where Roland Forthomme had another one of those days when he is unstoppable. He beat Caudron in 17 innings: 50-35. The other matches were won by the "team of stars": Jaspers using 29 innings, Merckx 30 and De Bruijn, who just turned 50, using 50.
Holland Mineraal-Van Wanrooy ended in 3-5, the draw between Pijl and Van der Ven in 44 innings proved to be decisive in the end. A strong van Schaik (28 innings) beat Martens, but his teammate Galla watched how Kurt Ceulemans reached the finish after just 23 innings. Stefan Spilleman could not make much of an impression on Ad Broeders. It keeps HCR Prinsen on 14 points, and as a result of the victories by Ripa and Post, still is not 100 % safe.
Kurt Ceulemans showed his high class in a 23-inning match