Well it has been a long time since I wrote about bowling, and even longer since I wrote about upgrading my equipment. So here is the latest.
I am about to put my trusty Black Gold Stomp by Track into semi-retirement. That is, it will become my alternative strike ball. Whilst the Black Gold Stomp is still hitting like a truck it is nevertheless getting quite old. Looking through the records the ball was released in late 2000, about the time I recall purchasing mine. During the past 8 years the Black Gold Stomp has been the cornerstone of my arsenal. If it was not performing then I was not performing, truth be known, if it wasn’t performing it was because I was bowling poorly.
The Black Gold was the ball I used to represent Western Australia in the now defunct Walter De Veer tournament in 2001. A tournament where I was averaging very close to 200. In fact to qualify for the team I averaged 200+ after starting the qualification tournament with a couple of 120′s and being a mile behind. I have over the years learnt to trust that the ball will indeed come back and not be scared to throw it out there.
My biggest game with this ball remains a 290 practice game, though in recent times I have thrown a number of 230′s and a couple of 260′s. So why did I decide to upgrade?
The reason for the upgrade was that new equipment will always be better than old equipment. In this respect bowling is no different to a car. A new Commodore will be superior to an 8 year old Commodore (though I would argue an 8 year old Commodore is better than a new Falcon 
). Anyways, the upgrade of the ball should see an improvement in my overall effectiveness. So what is the ball I am upgrading to?
For anyone that has seen my MSN or Facebook profiles of late would not be surprised to know that it is a Track Kinetic Pearl. This purple and black ball features an asymmetrical shuttle core covered in UMP Generation 2 Reactive resin. From all accounts it is a skid snap beast, which is exactly what I am after. I see as being the most suited to my bowling style, and in many ways looks like an amicable complement to the geriatric Stomp. I am quite excited to get this ball and have a roll at Shellharbour Bowl. Hopefully it will arrive early next week in time for a debut on Friday.
With the semi-retirement of the Track Black Gold Stomp I will be forced to banish my Ebonite Grey Wolf to the shed. The Grey Wolf was my second Ebonite ball and was a complement for the Ebonite Red Wolf (sitting in the shed). The Ebonite Grey Wolf was an under rated piece of equipment back in the day. The reason being that it required a very particular condition. Personally I loved the Ebonite Red Wolf, but the Ebonite Grey Wolf game me an option when it got too dry (as Melville Superbowl did) to use anything else.
The ancient red Ebonite Maxim that was second hand when I got it remains in the bag. I just can’t justify purchasing a plastic ball at this stage. If and when I do I will look for a Track Flaming T for a reasonable price. if I can’t find one at a reasonable price then I might go with a brand like Denver, yes cheap. But it is only a spare ball!
Here are some videos of the Kinetic Pearl.
