Shark Championship
Hello everyone,
     This week we bowled on the shark pattern.  After the cheetah last week, I was expecting a pretty tight pattern.  Well, when we got to practice, we quickly saw that the gutter hooked a little.  In fact, there was way more hook off the gutter that we ever saw on the cheetah last week.  Now there might be some variables, but we actually bowled on the same surface as last week.  I’m still not sure what’s going on with the way the patterns play, but it really doesn’t matter because we all have to bowl on it.
     I had a pretty good look early with the black Break, and an Nkryption code.  Both balls were basically layed out with a 4 ½ inch pin, and a small balance hole.  The beginning of the block was decent, but what I saw was a really quick transition, and the track area blew up fast.  This was from the higher rev players using a little surface from deeper.  My scores suffered, as I had some trouble getting the right look through the front, and still save energy for the back.  I’m still trying to find the right trick to get in where I need to, and still keep up with the harder throwing, higher rev players.  It seems they can create a much bigger window for carry, and use the lane to their advantage.  I ended up in 53rd place, and 70 pins out of the cut.
     I went out to the tour truck, and looked at the shelves to see if anything jumped out at me.  I thought about just getting a different look that I didn’t have, and see what happened.  I settled on a Maniac with a 5 inch pin, and a small hole a little below my axis.  Even though we were on the Shark, the HPL surface had more friction, and it didn’t seem like there was a very heavy volume on the lane.  I thought this might get through the front easier.
     I left the box finish on the ball and started the next block.  What I saw right away was that I had much better length through the front, and the ball really made a strong move at the pocket.  My first game out of the gate was a 265 with the front nine.  I got up in the tenth and got a little aggressive and left the 2-4-10.  The rest of the block, I stayed with the same ball, and kept bowling scores that moved me within reach of the cut.  There were a couple of games in the middle that I bowled a small 200 and fell a few pins below the cut line.  During that time I was trying to solve another transition on the lane.  This time I went to a Break S75, and was able to move in and catch a 230 game.  At this time, the number for the cut really wasn’t moving very much.  This pattern is definitely a lower scoring pace, and is refreshing to bowl on.  I managed to bowl 202 the last game and snag the last spot in the finals.
     The next day I started with the same ball from the night before, and had a similar look.  I bowled some great games early.  I averaged in the neighborhood of 250 something for the first 5 games, and moved up as high as 5th for a while.  I still had a little problem at the end of the block when the fronts went away, and slipped a little.  During this time, I went through a couple of different balls, including the Nkryption Code, and the Break.  The Break gave me the best look at the end, and I finished in 10th, and only around 100 pins off the show.  
     The night block seemed like we had a little more hook up front, and in the middle.  This made the right handers move in with some surface, and basically took the part of the lane that we had before, and blew it up fast.  Now, we have been having some left/right issues this season.  I think part of it is that even though the lanes seem to start close, the right blows up quick, and you’re forced to move away from the best angle for throwing strikes.   We’re then forced to manipulate the ball and alter delivery, and speeds while trying to keep up.  It seems like the left will hold up longer, and doesn’t seem as speed sensitive.  This doesn’t mean that they’re not making adjustments, but it doesn’t go away as fast.  This means they can stay in a good spot for a while, and just worry about carry.  It’s a tough situation to control, and there is a lot of frustration from everyone out here at the moment.  The bottom line is that you still have to throw it, and every week who ever puts the pieces to the puzzle together the fastest, is bowling on Sunday.
     Overall, I had a great week, and even though I finished 13th, there was quite a while that I was in contention for the show.  That’s all I can do, and hopefully the puzzle pieces will come together faster.  
     We have a couple of weeks off for the holidays, and then back to the west coast for a long road trip.

                                     Thanks,

                                   Steve

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900 Global/AMF  Sales Manager