NEW BALLS: MORE PROMISING THAN MY RESOLUTIONS
 Four new bowling balls might help us keep some of our scoring promises to ourself. Brilliant!

WELCOME TO 2007, a new year which brings new hopes and aspirations, especially with the tournament season soon upon us. To be successful we need to understand ball motion dynamics better to help us carry and score our highest in these seasonal events. Naturally, our physical and mental games must also be finely tuned to accomplish bowling nirvana, a.k.a. winning. By now, most everyone should have recovered from the stress of the holidays. Unfortunately, most new year's resolutions normally end by Jan 10th or so. My personal resolutions last year were to eat less, drink less and spend more quality time with my wife. Well, considering my new responsibilities with BJI, one outta three ain't bad. This year, in lieu of eating less, I'll eat healthier, although a little greener and a little leaner could make me a little meaner. I'm also going to drink healthier; more H2O, and more fresh juices and, of course, more of the healthiest beer known to man, Guinness. Sounds brilliant if you ask me. This month, we have four unique entries. Storm's premium release is called the Special Agent, with an all new cover formula which contains a flex additive to improve traction and midlane read. Storm's other entry with this new cover is a remake of the original Thunder Road, one of Pete Weber's all time favorites. The third entry is the Hole Pounder from a new manufacturer called Banger Bowling. Some may consider these names gimmicky, crude, or just fun, but the balls' performance is far from laughable. Lastly, the G Force is the latest from Lane #1 and features its first asymmetric Diamond core, surrounded by an aggressive solid reactive cover. Finding the G Force should bring euphoric scoring pleasure to young and old...

STORM: T-ROAD PEARL
 50 Hook; 15 Length; 16 Breakpoint Shape
Core Design: This symmetric design is an inverted Fe2 ionized core originally immortalized in the Thunder Road line. The RG is medium-high at 2.57 and has a .046 Diff rating on a 15# ball. We saw moderate lope through the front 30-35", and a thunderous move off friction. Track flare was 4" with 3.5, 4.5 and 5.5 layouts.

Coverstock:The ocean blue cover material is called R2S pearl. It has a flex agent additive to increase surface contact, and react more aggressively in the heavier oils now being used. The surface is finished at 1500-grit polished. The scent is black currant.

Manufacturer's Intent:Storm wanted to preserve similar motion characteristics of the original Thunder Road pearl. To achieve this, it needed to strengthen the coverstock to match up with today's higher viscosity oils. The match-up of the original core and new stronger cover is perfect.

Test Results:Normally, I don't care for balls which exhibit too much skid/flip reaction (they can be hard to read and difficult to predict). That is not the case with the T-Road, which reads the breakpoint quickly and consistently. It performed extremely well on all test patterns from all angles. On the wet/dry, we could either move in and swing it and bring it, or play closer to the friction as long as we took some hand out of it and stayed firm. Sanding the surface to 1000-abralon added three boards of total hook and softened the response off friction. We saw no hook out or loss of energy on any pattern. The cover's strength supersedes that of the core, but the results are a perfect match on most light-medium to medium-heavy patterns.

When to Use:Use on almost anything you want and strike at will. The conservative core (med-high RG and medium Diff) helped conserve energy and enhance hitting power, in our opinion. The T-Road is most definitely a quick-response ball, but it also is easy to read and does handle transition very professionally. On our 32" Sport shot, we had success playing 10 out to 3 as long as we stayed firm and were nice to it at the bottom. As soon as we got "on it," it responded too quickly and too aggressively for the line we were playing. Breaking the wrist back did allow us to close our angles some and control the breakpoint motion even more so. On our 39" Sport shot, we had our best results with 1000-and 2000-abralon finishes.

BANGER BOWLING: HOLE POUNDER
 48 Hook; 16 Length; 16 Breakpoint Shape
Core Design: The Hole Pounder's symmetric Visionary core is single density. The RG is 2.54 with a Diff reading in at .040. We saw 4" of track flare with the 4.5 and 3.5" drill patterns.

Coverstock:The ControlHookReactive pearl reactive cover comes highly polished at 1500-grit. Banger designed this all-new cover to match the aforementioned core. This cover has very limited friction in oil, yet responds very aggressively when it encounters dry boards.

Manufacturer's Intent:Banger, intentionally or not, produced a "wow" ball. A wow ball is a ball that both draws attention and can make people ask, "What the .... are you throwin'?" Balls which attract attention often go long and turn with the blinker on high. In more simple terms, entry angle impresses many with both its look and hit. And we all love balls that can potentially give us those flyin' bird dogs Norm Duke talks about.

Test Results:When determining a ball's overall hook rating, I take into account the reaction in oil and, naturally, in friction (dry). The Hole Pounder's hook rating on heavy and longer patterns would be in the low 40's, whereas on shorter and drier patterns, the rating would be in the mid to upper 50's. In other words, this ball was a dart in oil, yet the move was quick, strong and continuous when it encountered friction. The ball's hitting power and carry was also impressive when used on a recommended condition.

When to Use:An appropriate condition would be many medium to lighter patterns which have some area to throw at. The Hole Pounder will work well when playing inside angles and an angular move off the dry is desired. Straighter players can simply bump the dry on a wet/dry pattern and have recovery room right, but may not have sufficient friction when missing left. When bowling on Sport patterns, we found scuffing the surface with various scotch brite or abralon pads will help blend its read and make the reaction more bowler friendly. Blending the read refers to increasing a ball's friction in oil and slowing its response off dry. This ball will let you know where the oil and the dry is. All release types will love the crisp reaction and explosively loud hitting power. Controlling the aggressiveness with this and similar strength balls takes skill and having a good feel for the pattern on which you're bowling. You must know where the oil is and where the hook spot is to be successful.

STORM: SPECIAL AGENT
 52 Hook; 13 Length; 14.5 Breakpoint Shape
Core Design: The ball's symmetric core also is found in the pearl Agent. This fast-revving core has an RG of 2.48 and a hefty .055 Diff (these numbers are always from a 15# ball). We saw about 6" of track flare with the 3.5 and 4.5" layouts.

Coverstock:The berry-scented solid R2S cover utilizes the same flex additive found in the T-Road pearl mentioned above. This cover has no pearl additive, though, and comes sanded at 2000-abralon. The flex Agent widens the ball's footprint, thus enhancing the friction in oil. The dull surface and low RG core further smooth out the reaction from oil to dry.

Manufacturer's Intent:Storm evidently felt it needed a strong solid reactive for the heavier oils found on both league and PBA conditions. The Passion uses a very strong asymmetric core with the strong Reactor solid cover; the Special Agent uses a slightly tamer core surrounded by a stronger midlane-reading cover. The result is more down-lane (midlane to late midlane) aggressive motion with the ability to handle (read) oil transition. We all know oil moves and dissipates quickly. The fact we can't see this makes reading the transition very challenging. The combination of this new cover and proven symmetric core should make things easier for Pete Weber, Ryan Shafer, and also us mere mortals.

Test Results:Our tests reinforced the Special Agent's strong read in the midlane. We found we needed heavier volumes and/ or longer distances of 40" or more for best results. On lighter and shorter patterns, we saw a loss of energy and entry angle. Polishing the surface helped some, but not enough to satisfy our high-carry standards. Higher speed players and lower rev rate players naturally will find more uses on drier patterns, but we did not. The roll and transition reading characteristics were superb, though, on the heavier stuff. On longer Sport patterns, we had excellent carry with both dull and polished from outside angles. Our 32" Sport pattern proved far too dry to have any success due to the strength of the core and cover.

When to Use:Use on any longer or heavier volume patterns on either wood or synthetic. Higher speed players will enjoy the early read and smooth transition from oil to dry, especially when playing near the ball track or farther right on the lane. Inside angles will require longer patterns, moderate ball speeds and stronger releases. Pete Weber has such a release, as he proved by winning the PBA's Etonic Open, which used a heavy 44" oil pattern. All three Agents have their own unique roll and personality. They all have strong hook potential, but their down lane breakpoint motions are dramatically different. The Double Agent reads the early midlane, the Special Agent reads the midlane, and the pearl Agent reads the late midlane. The slowest response to friction is the Double, medium response being the Special and the quickest response to friction by far is the pearl Agent. Too bad 007 doesn't bowl; he'd have a ready-made three-ball arsenal.

LANE #1: G FORCE
 50.5 Hook; 12 Length; 13.5 Breakpoint Shape
Core Design: Lane #1 is using an asymmetric diamond shape for the first time. The RG is medium at 2.516, and the Diff is strong at .051. The mass bias strength is low at .006. We saw 5" of flare with the 4.5 and the 4" 1:30 layout (Lane #1's suggestion).

Coverstock:The cover is finished at 10 micron, which is equivalent to about 1000-abralon, according to Lane #1. The coloring is Solar Red Swirl, and the cover is called Detonator solid.

Manufacturer's Intent:Lane #1 is working with an all-new design team now that Columbia 300 is producing its equipment. Richie Sposato now is venturing into higher RG and asymmetric core design to further expand the motion characteristics of the line, looking for a more angular move off the spot with strong continuation.

Test Results:We all were impressed with the early revs and strong midlane we saw from the new G Force. We did not see an angular move off the spot with any test pattern, nor with any surface adjustment. We did see predictability and excellent pin carry, especially on the longer and heavier patterns. Some hook out was present on lighter volumes, or if we encountered early friction. Outside angles with sufficient oil were this ball's best match for pin carry on our house shots (38 and 39") and Sport (32 and 39") shots.

When to Use:Use confidently on longer and heavier volumes, and when looking for an arcing breakpoint motion. The strength of this ball is its strong midlane motion, with no sudden jerk off friction. We preferred outside angles when bowler speed, rev rate and lane condition matched up. When compared to similarly-surfaced solid Lane #1 Cobalt, the G Force rolled earlier with a smoother motion off the spot.


Testing Parameters
16.5 mph, 340 rev rate, and 60���º axis rotation. His PAP is 5 by 1/2 up. He has a contempary game and is considered a power stroker. Mark's lane play strength is 15th board and deeper, but with a little coaxing, he was right of 5 on our Sport pattern. He squared his shoulders, which closed his launch angles, and before long, he had a comfortable feel and great ball reaction. Mark has a 230 average, back-to-back 800's in a city tournament, a dozen 300's and a state title. He wants more titles, to be elected to a hall of fame and eventually coach/teach bowling. Our home house, Classic Lanes Oak Creek, supplied our wood test patterns. We bowled on a 28 ml house pattern and a 28 ml Sport pattern. We could attack the 39" house shot from almost anywhere, provided we modified our release strength and ball speed. Not all angles carried the same, but we could hit the pocket 98% of the time. Our Sport pattern is now at 32"... now that's Martin Short short. We couldn't play anywhere left of 10 since we couldn't get the needed length, so out we went. We could bank it 12 out to 3 and see ample recovery and great energy. We also could play more direct such as 7 out to 2-3 as long as we were very nice to the ball at the release. Nice meaning we needed a very soft hand with lots of reach to the spot. Our 38" synthetic shot was supplied at River City Lanes in Waterford, Wis. We played on similar volumes, but the Anvilane surface is noticeably harder than wood, which created easier length. We attacked the lanes similarly, but could use more hand and speed. Both houses have "honest carry" which helps us get a better feel for which balls carry better with slightly less than perfect releases. I won't test balls in centers where every ball carries regardless of release consistency. I also won't test balls where our targeting forgiveness area is too large, because we need to see realistic, honest feedback to truly understand each ball.



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