Bowler Stats:
Rev Rate: 300
Speed: 17 mph at the arrows
Axis Rotation: 70º
Axis Tilt: 8-10º
Drilling: 45*4.5*40, no weight hole
Condition #1: PBA Shark Pattern, Box surface
Shark was our next pattern and I wanted to see what the ball could do since it's marketed for med/heavy oil. I wasn't good on Shark during the summer and any kind of different look could be good. I had a pair to myself last weekend so I took the Wicked Siege, Black Widow Bite (2000 abralon) and Weapon Of Mass Bias (800 grit wet sanded). The WMB is early and extremely smooth, so no real comparisons could be made there. For the Wicked Siege, I was playing about a 2 board belly hitting 12-13 at the arrows and 10 at the break point. The ball was extremely clean through the heads, read the tail end of the mid lane and made a hard arc at the break point. Carry was very good. Snapped a few 10's out that looked like they should still be standing. I could tug it just bit and still hit the pocket. Sending it wide wasn't as bad as expected. There was usually enough recovery to break up the anticipated 2-10 combos. For the Black Widow Bite, I played about 3 and 2 left of where I lined up with the Wicked Siege. The BWB read the mid lane much earlier and stronger than the Wicked Siege. As a result, the BWB's back end looked kind of tame. Because of the cleanliness through the heads and the stronger move at the break point, I preferred the motion of the Wicked Siege. That's saying a lot because the BWB is my favorite ball for heavier, flatter patterns.
However, that was only practice. If I learned one thing from last summer, it's that the league always plays a lot tighter than the weekend. Unfortunately that was the case here also. I used the Wicked Siege all night partially because of the better look I had the the BWB over the weekend and partially because our team's fate was decided pretty early. I fumbled around the first game playing pretty close to where I practiced over the weekend, but I had to keep my speed pretty soft to get any reaction. I made a move in (roughly 5 and 3) after the first game and had a little better look. I still had to keep the speed soft, but I had a little more margin for error. The last game I moved in a bit more, but didn't really execute that well.
To be a real med/heavy piece, this ball will definitely need some surface. Something around 2000 abralon might be good, but I fear that since it would read earlier and smoother that it might be too similar to the BWB.
Condition 2: House shot, Box surface
I can't give many specifics on the shot since this house shot actually gets tweaked every week. It's a pretty standard 38-40' shot with a pretty good volume in the middle and usually pretty dry outside 7. I've used a Blue/Green Centaur outside one week when it wasn't as toasty, I've used a polished Nighthawk M2 and a box surface Absolute Inferno between 2nd and 3rd arrow on most weeks, and I've even used the Black Widow Bite between 3rd and 4th arrow after the standard lines start to carry down. Between the drying heads and carry down, there are often some ugly scores for the 3rd game.
I knew I was going to test drive the Wicked Siege all night, so I didn't use anything else in practice. I could tell from watching my team mates reactions that it was a pretty standard night. The motion of the ball is kind of odd. Still very clean through the heads, but the back end is more of a curve – right between a flip and an arc. Kind of like a baseball “slurve†is a hybrid of a curve and a slider. I'm not sure I've seen a reaction quite like it. Surprisingly, I had to line up several boards right of where I would have stood with the M2. If I didn't feed it far enough right at the break point, or got a little firm with it, the ball wouldn't make it back to the pocket. After the first transition, I moved in a few boards to catch from fresh head oil. Unfortunately, due to the cleanliness of the ball through the front part of the lane, it barely nicked the head pin. Like Shark, after I moved in, I had to soften my speed quite a bit. After leaving 6-7 10 pins the first two games I wanted to try something different. I moved 8-10 boards right, flattened out my wrist, and picked up my speed. The first shot look really nice, but the next two were a little fast and the ball never read the pattern. I eventually moved back in and left another handful of 10 pins.
So far I'm a little confused. I wouldn't have expected to see a new high performance ball labor down lane as this one has so far. I wanted the ball to be clean though the heads and be very continuous down lane. I got the former, but not the latter. Even on the fresh house shot, too many balls were finishing off the deck at or slightly right of the 9 pin. The flare lines look good, so I doubt I'll need a weight hole. It is set up for a P3 or P4 weigh hole in case I change my mind. The first thing I plan on doing is changing the surface. Although I like the Rough Buff on my Absolute, maybe it's not a good match up for me with the Wicked Siege. I think 2000 abralon would make too much over lap with my Black Widow Bite, so I'll probably hit it with 500 abralon to remove the Rough Buff and then go right to 4000 abralon. If that isn't good, I'll try 500 abralon + polish. After I find a surface I like, I'll shoot a video.
Here's my initial post with some comments and pictures. Pictures of all of my equipment are in my profile
http://www.ballreviews.com/Forum/Replies.asp?TopicID=267138&ForumID=2&CategoryID=2--------------------
Penn State ProudRon Clifton''s Bowling Tip Archive
