Well guys I know you have been waiting for more intel on the SuperNova so here's what I can give you...
First off props to Chuck and Richie for getting me the ball early to play with. Unfortunately I had a couple fo snags that led me to not get the ball reviewed until now....
I tried drilling the ball similar to the way trigger drilled his...pin over the ring and mass bias just right of the thumb. Rationale? With the new core design I was told the ball really liked to roll up fast so I wanted to try to get all of the push I could. To make a long story short, all that happened was I got a couple of nice oil lines right over my middle finger and thumbholes. I added a weighthole to try and move the bowtie up but that was a no go. Warning....if you are a high tracker, do not drill the ball with a negative pin placement unless you have a ton of axis tilt. See the link to pipcs in my profile.
So it was off to the plug bench and a quick look at the rest of my equipment to see how I could drill it to fit in.
2nd drill....decided to see how the ball compared to my G Force Solid that I had been using in league so I drilled it up the same way. See my profile for a link to the exact layout of the ball.
I originally threw the ball in a polished state as I had tried tweaking the cover with the original drill. The ball was at 2000 grit Abralon with a light coat of Track Magic Shine. On a fresh house shot this ball proved very sensitive ...lots of over/under. Again I am figuring the highly polished cover and the fresh wet/dry pattern gave me what it should have...over/under.
So off to the spinner....1000 grit Abralon pad, no polish. NOW WE'RE GETTING SOMEWHERE!!
Off the hand this ball revs up really hard and really quick. The flare pattern on the ball is not as wide as my Nebula or G Force Solid...my guess would be that the inner diamond is stabilizing the SuperNova and not letting the flares step out as fast as the original WAS core....I LIKE IT!!!
Ball reaction....typical Lane 1....smooth and arcy midlane and a strong continuous backend reaction. What I did notice, however, was that the SuperNova will accept changes in hand position and drastically alter ball reaction with those changes. Many of Lane 1's ball will give you a certain degree of change with a change in tilt or axis rotation but this ball responds significantly stronger to changes than the other balls. The ball is still very forgiving compared to many others on the market as minor mistakes in the release are not met with catastrophic results but if you make a noticeable mistake in your release (45* of axis rotation instead of 15* or 15* of tilt instead of 5*) you will see a significantly different ball reaction.
End result? I am going to continue to play withthe coverstock of the SuperNova and try to dial it in a bit more. With the 1000 grit Abralon finish it is 4-5 boards stronger than my Solid G Force at the same grit. At 2000 with polish it is 4-5 boards weaker than my Evolution in box condition.
This ball could be the sleeper of the year for the small ball companies. I expect it to handle anything around medium oil with your favorite drill pattern placed in the ball. Go with an exotic layout and I think you could bump the outer extremes on the wet or dry sides.
I do have a couple extra 15# SuperNovas arriving shortly if anyone is looking for one. Price? Check out my webpage for my going rate. Yes I know my website needs some updating...I am working on it...honest!!! :-)
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Doug Sterner
Doug's Pro Shop
Owego, NY
http://dougsproshop@aol.com
www.dougsproshop.net
Lane 1 Buzzsaw...The Official Power Tool Of Bowling
