Comparing the Flare to the Rubicon are they in the same ball park or is the Flare stronger ? It would be nice to see them head to head.

FWIW, non staffer here, the Flare runs a circle around my Alpha Jackal and Jackal Ghost in hook. I'm not a huge fan of the big asymm balls for covering boards, they tend to work great at straighter angles to start on high volume longer stuff, but always seem to puke when I move in. The Flare really freakin' hooks a lot, one of the, if not the strongest balls i've drilled, and in box finish, has absolutely no use for me until I catch a tournament on PBA Dragon or something like that. Niche piece, but looks rad on the shelf and really wild going down the lane, colors are extremely vibrant.

For what it's worth, here's my writeup on the Flare:

The easiest way for me to put this, is that no cover has any business being this strong...

You know what that means, the ball should be awful any time there isn't a complete and total puddle, right? Actually no. I don't really know how to explain it, but this ball somehow manages to retain energy even when I really should be throwing something a lot weaker. I'm not saying it is remotely optimal, just that it runs circles around other strong balls when compared on stuff they really shouldn't be thrown on. 

Don't get me wrong, I can't throw this on absolutely on everything, but if you're building a bag on versatility, this is definitely going to be that big core symmetrical solid in your bag.

This ball is so strong that i joined a league on the Route 66 pattern to be able to test it on longer and higher volume patterns, and I can tell you from personal experience, I consistently get 7 when I should have gotten 0. You know what I'm talking about right? The ball is 5 right at the arrows and you're ready to wave goodbye, but SOMEHOW THIS COVER HANGS ON??? Any other ball would be in the ditch and this one is somehow still chugging.

Enough overly excited review though, here are some stats:

Layout 5.25x35

Surface: I hit it with 1000 by hand if it's not doing what it should be, but this ball laneshines really slow compared to everything else, so I don't have to do it often.


Limitations:

Lower volume long patterns (I just prefer weaker and quicker response stuff for these)

I like to hit my stuff with a lot of surface early and let it laneshine during competition, but this shines too slow for me to do that. In a perfect world I'd probably have a slightly lower flaring Flare at the higher surface once this one starts burning up too much for my liking.

Jamison Peyton
Motiv Staffer
BowlersMart Lakeside