Well, I head out to Luxembourg on Sunday(16th) for the European Champions Cup, hoping to improve on my last years final placing of 12th. The tournament comprises of the national champion from each of the European countries (42 this year I think), and is played on the long/short oil format – 8 games long, 8 games short, and 8 games long/short combo. Last year I averaged 187 on the short, 212 on the long, and 191ish (I think) on the dual. All this year I have been working on my short oil game, as you can tell it wasn’t great last year, and hopefully will improve on that this year!
I think I have finalised my arsenal at last, and among the 5 balls I am taking (possibly have a 6th ball, a polyester) there are 3 Roto’s…
For the long I am going with the Epic battle, drilled with the pin below the ring finger and the mass bias about 3†to the right of the strong position. My primary plan of attack on the long is to use a very strong pearl to just get as much movement on the back end as I can, however I am taking the battle as a plan B of getting some traction in the oil, as this worked quite well last year. I was thinking about taking my SD73 Classic, but at the moment, the Battle is just pipping it into my bag!
For the short I have decided to go with a Neptune (just drilled this one last night) with the pin about 1†above the top of the fingers, 5.5†from my PAP, with the MB just to the left of the thumb. My second ball is the Mystic, polished like mad, drilled with about a 4.5†pin and strongish MB. This ball doesn’t react as strong as it did when new, and that is exactly why I’m taking it. It rolls great and is very controllable. My final ball for the short is a non roto (a blem with overly weak cover, pearl, med/high diff, drilled with a leverage pin).
I’m sure the scores will be up on the official website for anyone who is interested, but if I have internet access in the hotel, I will be sure to come on and keep you abreast of my performance!
Cheers
Ryan
