I think the victory road was replaced by the iq tour pearl. It has better midlane with the 2.48 rg versue 2.56, and more controllable. I hear greater success from the iq pearl users more than i heard from victory road users.

Yea i know, but the t-road learl wasn't as flippy as the victory road pearl. I was alking in the sense of the company's medium oil skid/flip. But i understand what you mean. By the way, where does the fire road fit then? Because if it is more of an arc compared to a flip, then why else would storm release a hy-road pearl.

My son is moving up from 10# to 12. He is turning 12 in July but only started bowling back in January. He had his biweekly lesson last night and we stopped in the proshop after to discuss what ball would be appropriate. His coach is the wife if the shop owner; very convenient. (I won't mention the name since they have an online presence and I assume that would be verboten).

Upon consultation it was agreed by all that a midrange ball would be the best way to go. Although he has a rich eye and is very knowledgable about the different balls on the market, it was explained that the high end balls would be too much ball for the predominant conditions he will be bowling under and there is no core differences (for all intents and purposes) at 12#.

Accepting that we started to explore options. He is by default a Storm fan since he has seen a number of pros have success with storm balls. Who says kids wont watch bowling on TV? He had seen pictures of the hyroad pearl online and was not interested. Didn't like the way the purple looked in the picture. However, as we were standing there, the Storm sales rep came in the shop with a box. Inside the box was a shiny new hyroad pearl. It looks much much better in person than in the picture. We checked with his coach and her husband and they agreed it should be a suitable ball for his needs and style so we made the decision on the spot. Once they're released it will get drilled up.

PAP and axis tilt was measured after his lesson. I'm excited for him as he continues to progress and I'm certain this ball will help in that regard.  Very happy with the owner and his coach and I'm glad I found them. It's an hour drive each way every other week but it's well worth it. I will update next month after he gets it to provide a youth bowlers perspective. Great forum.

i think the issue with the fire road too is that with the last couple releases in its place (victory road pearl and reign) people were expecting it to go sideways and the stronger cover didnt allow it to

Looks much better in person:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v690/Phoenix_RsX/null.jpg