From Chris Schlemer Roto Report – Fountain Valley, CA Hello RG fans and welcome to the Roto Report as provided by me, Chris Schlemer. Of course you know that this entire report will be about quite possibly the best Roto Grip ball ever created. That’s right I’m referring to the CELL. Yall got your first taste of it a couple weeks ago when free agent Danny Wiseman used one on the show in Reno. It was the debut of the CELL. Now here we are 2 weeks later and 3 free agents use it on TV and Mike Scroggins goes on to win with it. HMMM let’s see, it been on the PBA tour 3 weeks and has made 4 appearances. Numbers don’t lie is all I can say.
Undoubtedly one of the best mass bias creations of all time, bowlers around the globe including the best in the business can’t wait to get their hands on it. Last week was just a glimpse of what is to come from this ball. I’m sure there are many of you that recently attended the latest seminar given by Roto Grip and Storm and if the seminar didn’t convince you. I’m sure that 3 out of 5 guys using it on the show will help clear up any questions. Not to mention that all 3 guys, Mike Scroggins, Jack Jurek and Tommy Delutz Jr. are all free agents. Meaning they can use what ever they want on the market and last week all 3 wanted to use the CELL. Unfortunately there isn’t a record book that tracks the balls used on the show week in and week out. But if there was, you would have to go back a long time in order to find a show in which 3 guys used the same type of ball. I have been out here almost 7 years and have never seen such a thing.
Tommy Delutz Jr. and Mike Scroggins both used the CELL a majority of the time during qualifying. Then as the week went on, both drilled another to compliment the one they already had. Then after qualifying, Jack Jurek wanted to try one out for the first round of match play. He then proceeded to go out and shoot the only 300 game of the entire tournament. This by the way pocketed him the entire 300 game pot for a cool $1000. Not bad for a ball he drilled just before that first match play round. All 3 guys were in contention thru all 3 rounds of match play. Again, they are free agents so they can use what ever they want. And well honestly they did. But when all was said and done they all decided they wanted to use the ball that gave them the best opportunity to win. Yep, the CELL was that ball of choice. All 3 guys had more than one CELL in the bag for the telecast. In fact, Scroggins had 2, Jurek had 3 and Delutz had 5.
If you watched the show you may or may not have noticed Mike Scroggins CELL change after he defeated Storm staffer Pete Weber in the opening match. After the match he told me he felt the CELL with the mass bias out beyond his VAL was starting to burn up a little bit. The main reason for this was the fact that he used a ODYSSEY sanded with 360 abralon to burn a spot on the gutter and used his Denny’s ball straight up around 6,7 to carry oil down. This little plan gave him hook left and hold right, thus creating more room for error on his part. So anyway, I had him throw his other CELL with a similar pin placement but a totally different mass bias placement. His eventual winning CELL had the mass bias placed almost in the thumb which allowed it to clear the front better and have more energy going thru the pins. This is the reason why he threw the HORIZON SOLID in the first frame of the title match. Again he felt as though the ball was reading a little early. So I grabbed the HORIZON which is a symmetrical shape core with a solid shell and a pin up layout to get thru the burned up midlane. What yall didn’t see at home during the warm-up for the title match was Scroggs throw a 6 bagger with the HORIZON. That is why he started with it. That notion was short lived as he went back to his comfort zone and grabbed the CELL with the mass bias by the thumb and threw it harder. End result title number 4 for Scroggs and title number 1 for the CELL. Party @ Scroggs has been around a long time and only accumulated 4 trips to victory lane. The CELL however has been around 3 weeks and has already made it to the winner’s circle. Which at that rate, who knows how many titles, will be won with a CELL? I guess only time will tell. But in the mean time, don’t be afraid to add one or 2 or 3 to your arsenal. Trust me you will not regret it. The only thing you will regret is not getting one sooner!
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Duke Harding
