The Roto Grip Up Roar is the latest release in the HP-2 line of balls. It is the follow up to the Rumble. The Up Roar has a 1500 grit polished pearl 51ML cover stock. This is the same cover that was used on the Shatter. The core is the Late Roll 51 that debuted in the Rumble. The numbers come in at 2.55 RG with a differential of 0.030 in 15lbs. The Up Roar has bright shelf appeal with its orange and ruby pearl color combination.
I drilled my Up Roar with pin over ring, CG on my grip line, with the 6 ¾†virtual MB in my initial ball track. This comes out to 5 ¼ x6 ½ x2 ½ using the Storm system of laying out a ball. I left the ball at the box finish. The comp balls will be my current Rumble with a 4x6½ x2½ layout and a Shatter, with the same layout as the Up Roar.
The Up Roar is very clean to the break point for me. It doesn’t jump off the dry as hard as some of my Storm balls, but is a very strong move compared to my other Roto Grip pieces. This ball needs DRY backends to slow it down. It is an excellent complement to the Rumble in that it affords me about 3 to 4 more feet of length compared to the Rumble with box finish, and a more pronounced move to the pocket. The Up Roar is about 2-3 boards less overall than the Shatter. The decrease in the differential really changes the shape of this ball as it rolls through the backend of the lane. Since the core doesn’t allow the ball to rev up as fast, the move is much more sudden than that of the Shatter, once encountering friction. I really like the Shatter a lot, but sometimes find it to be too much overall hook when the lane starts to dry up based on the cover and core relationship. The Up Roar seems to be the solution, for my style of bowling.
I like the Up Roar for broken down conditions. I also liked how this ball worked for me at Doug Kent’s bowling center, during his Brockmeyer Open event. Doug has wood lanes, and uses a very difficult pattern. The up Roar allowed me to trap the middle of the lane, and grind out, making the first cut.
I probably wouldn’t reach for the Up Roar as the first ball out of the bag on freshly oiled synthetic lanes(unless it is a very low volume), as it will be too skid flippy for my ball speed. I could see where someone who is speed dominate and wants to play the dry, would be able to use it on fresh oiled synthetics though. I can also see bowlers with slower ball speed and higher rev rates will see use of this ball on medium conditions. For me, as my ball speed and rev rate are fairly well matched, I will use it more on the broken down conditions and wood lanes where I need a clean move to the breakpoint.
Thank you for taking the time to read my review of the Roto Grip Up Roar.
