I used to use a lot of Track stuff...an original blue Enforcer, a Critical Mass Code Red, etc. I had a purple Sensor II that, until it wore out, was one of the best bowling balls I ever threw.

I stopped having good luck about the time the Triton line came around, though, and other than a red Enforcer I used on and off for a couple of years, I'd basically steered clear of Track until my coach/driller told me he thought my game matched up fairly well with some of the newer Track cores.

So I found a 14-lb Machine, had it drilled pin-under-bridge, CG in the palm, MB about 50-60 degrees down and to the right of the thumb.

We started a sport league this week, and I hadn't thrown the ball yet, so it sat in my bag until carrydown got to be too much of a problem for my Legends/Lanemasters Yeah Baby that I'd been playing with. Kind of as a last resort, since I'd not chosen wisely what other equipment to bring, I pulled out the Machine, more or less just for kicks.

I'm going to wait until I post a full review, because I want to get a better statistical sample. Right now, though, I'm cautiously ecstatic.

The core in that ball must be some unholy kind of monster, because even at just 14 pounds, this ball was carrying like a 15- or 16-pounder. Revved up very nicely, very smooth through the front and the mids, and saved up enough punch for the back. I bowled, all told, about one full game with the ball (I was still swapping equipment lane-to-lane) Tuesday night and ended up putting up a 195 in the last game. That's significant because I feel like my sport average is going to end up around 170-180, so a 195 game is +20 to me on this condition, basically.

The last time I had a ball in my hand that I felt was so superior to other equipment I was throwing was when I bought a Storm X-Factor the week it was introduced. I hope this continues.

Jess

I think you'll continue to like it. The Machine and the Robo Rule are two of the best balls on the market today, perhaps the two best for medium to heavy conditions. I too use 14-lb bowling balls, and Tracks in general hit like mack trucks and carry wonderfully.

Chuck

I also want to clear up a misconception that I might have caused in the original post -- there isn't anything negative to say about the Yeah Baby I was using. That ball has been polished up to 4000 Abralon to separate it from other balls in my arsenal. It isn't a box-condition Yeah Baby and I should have mentioned that. I also plan to start this week's set with the YB, provided conditions are the same or similar in practice. I'll just move to the Machine sooner and not swap back and forth once I do, unless the lanes dictate it (I was alternating different balls on the two different lanes this week for about half a game).

Jess