MOTIV Adds Sigma Sting

The Sigma Sting™ is a pearl tuned to be an benchmark ball.  Engineered for medium oil, it provides great length and outstanding backend motion that continues confidently through the pin deck.  This is the first time MOTIV has put a pearl cover stock around the Sigma™ core. 

The low RG Sigma™ core utilized has been a favorite of MOTIVated bowlers because it provides a versatile ball motion with a very high strike percentage.  The 15# model has a differential of .047, which produces plenty of track flare without expending too much energy, leaving fuel in the tank for a strong backend. 

The Sigma Sting™ cover technology is Fusion™ Pearl Reactive, first used on the Primal Rage™.  This shell is known for being very angular when it encounters friction, yet retains energy for bulldozing continuation.  It is tuned with a 1500 grit Power Gel® polished finish to give this low RG ball more length and faster response. Look for the new MOTIV in December.

Hammer Introduces the AMP UP

December 10^th look for the new Hammer Amp Up.

The Amp Up features Hammer’s PowerShot asymmetric core, first used in the Amp, and designed to provide ultra-high mid-lane revolutions with a very defined breakpoint.

Combine that with the new Overdrive pearl coverstock, and you’ve got another of the strongest rolling upper-mid priced balls in the history of Hammer. With more length and backend than its predecessor, the Amp and Amp Up make a great one-two punch.

9-Year-Old Girl Shoots 300 Game

Hannah Diem of Seminole, FL, became the youngest United States Bowling Congress member to roll a certified 300 game on Nov. 17 when she ended her Youth/Adult Fall League session at Liberty Lanes in Largo, FL, with 12 consecutive strikes.

At 9 years, 6 months and 19 days, Hannah broke the previous overall record of 10 years, 2 months, set by Chaz Dennis of Columbus, Ohio, in 2006, and shattered the girls’ mark of 12 years, 4 months, set by Brandie Reamy of Farmington, MI, also in 2006.

Hannah started the night with games of 204 and 226 before rolling the perfect game to finish with a 730 series, a personal best by 166 pins. Entering the session, her high game was 224 and her high series was 564.
“Going into the third game, I knew what she needed for her first 600 series, but then the strikes started to add up,” said Heidi Diem, Hannah’s mother. “It’s like every shot she threw was right there. It was magical.”

Diem credits much of her daughter's continuing improvement to the support and guidance of the older youth bowlers at Liberty Lanes and the dedication of USBC Bronze coach James Crouch, who runs the youth program. Hannah also spent time over the summer at the Kegel Training Center in Lake Wales, FL.

In four years of certified competition, Hannah has raised her average to 162. She bowls in multiple leagues each week, practices often and bowls in tournaments on weekends. In 2012, she won her singles division at the Florida State Youth Tournament.

After her second game Sunday night, Hannah asked her mother when she thought she’d roll her first perfect game. The answer was, “Next year.” It turned out to be the next game.

“I tried not to talk to her too much and distract her,” Heidi Diem said. “I don’t know how she composed herself. I’ve never thrown a 300 or been close, so I don’t know the pressure she felt when she was up there. Going into the 10th frame, it’s like she didn’t waiver at all. She just got up there and nailed it.”
For Hannah, the accomplishment is a little bit overwhelming.

“At first, I wasn’t that confident I could do it, but as I got more strikes, I felt like maybe it could happen,” said Hannah, who uses a 12-lb. ball. “This just feels amazing. It’s so much excitement, and my brain is still trying to process it all.”
Hannah hopes to continue improving with the help of her teammates and coaches, and her sights are set on potentially competing in the Bowling.com Youth Open Championships and USBC Junior Gold Championships in the Buffalo, NY, area next summer. For now, she and her mother are simply enjoying the chance to bowl together on Sunday nights.

“She certainly didn’t get the bowling gene from me,” Diem said. “I always joke that it skipped me, and she got double, but it means a lot that it’s something we can do together.”

The achievement is pending formal approval from the USBC.

Malott Wins Cheetah Championship in Las Vegas

Wes Malott Wins Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Cheetah Championship for Ninth Career Title Opening telecast in PBA World Series of Bowling V series introduces “blue oil” to TV fans.

Wes Malott of Pflugerville, Texas, capped a three-match sweep in the finals of the Professional Bowlers Association Cheetah Championship, defeating top qualifier Parker Bohn III of Jackson, NJ, in the title match of the historic ESPN telecast, 243-169, for his ninth career PBA Tour title.

The first of seven telecasts from PBA World Series of Bowling V at South Point Hotel, Casino and Bowling Center aired Sunday on ESPN, and featured the use of a highly-visible blue oil on the lanes for the first time in PBA history.

 

Malott, in winning his second consecutive title, defeated Colombia native Clara
Guerrero, 214-208, in the opening match, and was nearly perfect in ousting
51-year-old PBA Hall of Famer Pete Weber of St. Ann, MO, 288-242, in advancing to the title match.

Guerrero, only the third woman ever to advance to the nationally-televised
championship round of a PBA Tour event, made a short-lived, but exciting
appearance. The 31-year-old former Wichita State University star – now married and an American citizen living not far from Malott in Pflugerville – took a 15-pin lead over Malott into the eighth frame of the opening match. But Malott
finished with a string of five strikes to eliminate Guerrero, 214-208, and
exorcise a personal demon.

In two previous nationally-televised matches against another woman star, Liz
Johnson of Cheektowaga, NY, Malott lost both times. He committed a foul that
contributed to a 235-228 loss to Johnson in the 2005 PBA Banquet Open (the first time a woman had ever appeared on a PBA Tour telecast), and in July, after he won the U.S. Open in Columbus, Ohio, Malott lost a special “Battle of the Sexes” match against Johnson, the Women’s U.S. Open winner, 194-188.

“There was a lot riding on this show, especially for me,” Malott said. “The
first match against Clara – the lady – I obviously remembered my foul against
Liz and losing to Liz at the U.S. Open. I needed to get that off my back. As
much as I acted like it wasn’t there, it was on the back of my mind. I told
myself at the end of the match I couldn’t give up and let it happen again, so I
wanted to put the pressure on her and I was fortunate to come out the winner.”

For Guerrero, just the opportunity “was a dream,” she said. “Every time you see
the guys on TV, you want to compete with them, beat them. So being here, having the opportunity to bowl against the greatest bowlers in the world, it was a dream. It was the best part of my career.”

After closing out Guerrero with his string of five strikes, Malott added another
10 in a row against Weber, losing his shot at a perfect game when he left a 10
pin on his 11th shot.

“That might have been the best shot I threw all day,” Malott said of the 11th
shot. “I’d throw that one again a million times.”

He continued his torrid pace, striking on seven of his first eight shots in
racing away from Bohn in the title match.

“Against Pete, both of us are kind of in the running for player of the year, and
I thought I would help my chances by winning that match,” Malott said, “but I
also had to beat Parker to win the title, so every match meant a lot. I just
worried about myself and did what I could to win back-to-back titles (the
Cheetah Championship was the first PBA Tour event since the U.S. Open), and it’s a great feeling.”

The Cheetah Championship was the first time a lane conditioning oil with a color additive had ever been used in a PBA Tour championship event, and it was praised by both Guerrero and Malott.

“I saw it,” Guerrero said. “I thought it was going to be a little different. I
thought I’d see the lines on the bowling ball, but it didn’t bother me at all. I
think it’s cool for the audience to actually see the oil and understand the game
a little more, but I just ignored it.”

Malott agreed.

“Everyone was concerned about what the dye was going to do to the oil, but I
really didn’t move for all three games,” he said. “Because I bowled all three
games playing the same line, so you could see the track of the ball. That’s what
I was curious about.

“This oil could be very educating for the fans and outsiders to help them
understand what we’re dealing with, and to see how accurate we are,” he added.

“To me that’s more important than what the oil did to us. I don’t think it affected anything performance-wise. I’m kind of excited about it.”

The “blue oil” will be used in all four animal pattern championship finals held
during the World Series. The Viper Championship presented by PBA Bowling Challenge will air next Sunday, Dec. 8, followed by the Chameleon Championship on Dec. 15 and the Scorpion Championship on Dec. 22. All December telecasts begin at 1 p.m. ET.

Next Sunday’s Viper Championship telecast will include a “speed bowling” PBA League Challenge, calling for players to roll as many strikes as possible in a span of 90 seconds.

A New Bowling Show - The Bowling Center

Roto Grip Lets Us Look Behind the Curtain for 2014

Roto Grip announces, the newest additions to the Roto Grip family of performance bowling balls set to hit pro shop walls on January 7^th, 2014.

 

The HP4™ line expands reaction with the addition of the new Hyper Cell™. In the HP3™ line the Asylum™ joins the fray, while in the HP2™ line the Uproar™ rounds out their newest creations.

With the success of the original Cell™ and Nucleus™ Core back in 2009 and given the more recent success of the MicroBite™ solid coverstock used on the original Defiant™, Roto felt it was time to mix the best of the past and the strongest of the present into one. And so the Hyper Cell was born. There is no doubt the Defiant series of balls have been quite successful over the last couple years, but we knew it was time for something just a little more special. Wrapped with the 80H™ MicroBite solid reactive cover, this ball will create even more midlane motion and more continuation than ever before in the HP4 line.

Utilizing the proven Middle Roll 70™ core that has made the Disturbed™ and Deranged™ staples in most arsenals, Roto set out to create another valuable option in this line so they wrapped this sweet rolling core with a 63MH™ Hybrid reactive coverstock. As we all know, hybrid creates the best of both worlds with ease through the front thanks to the pearl and control on the backends thanks to the solid.

Given the performance of the Rumble™ Roto Grip added a pearlized version. This new addition features the same Late Roll 51™ Core which will provide plenty of length and superb control off the breakpoint.

 

PBA Dyes Lane Oil for Animal Championships

The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) will take an 
historic step toward illustrating the challenges bowlers face when blue dye will 
be added to the lane conditioning oil for ESPN’s telecasts of five PBA World 
Series of Bowling championship events this weekend.

PBA worked with its official lane maintenance provider Brunswick to formulate 
and test the oil that will be applied exclusively on the pair of Brunswick lanes 
installed in the South Point Hotel Exhibit Hall B complex for the World Series 
of Bowling ESPN-televised finals.  The oil is not a product on the market and is 
being used only for the WSOB TV shows.

“Throughout its history, it has been difficult to describe the challenges 
players face in our sport,” PBA Commissioner Tom Clark said. “How oil is applied 

to the lane, and how it transitions as competition 

progresses, is something no one is able to see with the naked eye, and those are critical variables in scoring and player strategy.

 

“For the first time ever, we’re going to add dye to the oil so that bowling fans on site and watching at home on ESPN will literally be able to see how the pattern of oil looks on the lane. We are sure it will be educational and insightful for all levels of fans tuning in and we hope to learn from this experiment and improve it moving forward.”

 

The dyed oil will debut with the Cheetah Championship which uses the 35-foot PBA Cheetah oil pattern. The Viper (39 feet), Chameleon (43 feet), and Scorpion Championships (47 feet) will follow.

 

PBA Hall of Famer Carmen Salvino said visible oil was a milestone in educating the audience and elevating the sport. “A lot of credit has to go to PBA for taking what I believe is a huge step for the sport, and to Brunswick for doing the extensive research and development that was necessary to have the oil ready for this event,” Salvino said.

 

The WSOB shows will be taped Saturday and Sunday Nov. 2 and 3 and will air on ESPN beginning Dec. 1 at p.m. ET.

 

PBA WORLD SERIES OF BOWLING V TELEVISION LINEUP

South Point Exhibition Hall B

 

PBA CHEETAH CHAMPIONSHIP Stepladder Finalists (Saturday, Nov. 2, 1 p.m. PT; ESPN telecast Dec. 1, 1 p.m. ET)

1, Parker Bohn III, Jackson, N.J.

2, Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo.

3, Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas.

4, Clara Guerrero, Colombia.

 

PBA VIPER CHAMPIONSHIP presented by PBA Bowling Challenge Stepladder Finalists (Saturday, Nov. 2, 3 p.m. PT; ESPN telecast Dec. 8, 1 p.m. ET)

1, Ryan Ciminelli, Cheektowaga, N.Y.

2, Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas.

3, Stuart Williams, England.

4, Jason Belmonte, Australia.

 

PBA CHAMELEON CHAMPIONSHIP Stepladder Finalists (Saturday, Nov. 2, 5:30 p.m. PT; ESPN telecast Dec. 15, 1 p.m. ET)

1, Dom Barrett, England.

2, Brian Kretzer, Dayton, Ohio.

3, Ryan Ciminelli, Cheektowaga, N.Y.

4, Tom Smallwood, Saginaw, Mich.

 

PBA SCORPION CHAMPIONSHIP Stepladder Finalists (Saturday, Nov. 2, 7 p.m. PT; ESPN telecast Dec. 22, 1 p.m. ET)

1, Marshall Kent, Yakima, Wash.

2, Tom Smallwood, Saginaw, Mich.

3, Josh Blanchard, Gilbert, Ariz.

4, Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C.

 

WORLD BOWLING TOUR FINALS presented by PBA Stepladder Finalists (Sunday, Nov. 3, 10 a.m. PT; ESPN telecast Jan. 5, 1 p.m. ET)

Women’s Finals

1, Kelly Kulick, Union, N.J.

2, Liz Johnson, Cheektowaga, N.Y.

3, Missy Parkin, Laguna Hills, Calif.

 

Men’s Finals

1, Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill.

2, Mika Koivuniemi, Finland/Hartland, Mich.

3, Mike Fagan, Fort Worth, Texas

 

PBA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Stepladder Finalists (Sunday, Nov. 3, 12:30 p.m. PT; ESPN telecast Dec. 29, 1 p.m. ET)

1, Dom Barrett, England.

2, Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill.

3, Mike Fagan, Fort Worth, Texas.

4, Tom Smallwood, Saginaw, Mich.

5, Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo.

 

PBA REGIONAL PLAYERS INVITATIONAL FINALS Shootout Format Finalists (Sunday, Nov. 3, 3:30 p.m. PT; ESPN telecast Jan. 12, 1 p.m. ET) Players seeded based upon qualifying positions for 28 games in animal pattern events. Players 2, 4 and 6 bowl one-game match; players 1, 3, 5 bowl one-game match; winners of those two matches bowl one game for title.

1, Brian Kretzer, Dayton, Ohio (Central Region).

2, Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas (Southwest Region).

3, Tom Daugherty, Wesley Chapel, Fla. (South Region).

4, Brian LeClair, Albany, N.Y. (East Region).

5, Dave Beres, Waukesha, Wis. (Midwest Region).

6, Ben Laughlin, Chandler, Ariz. (West/Northwest Region).

 

PBA50 FINALS Stepladder Finalists (Sunday, Nov. 3, 3:30 p.m. PT; ESPN telecast Jan. 12, 1 p.m. ET)

1, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Ocala, Fla.

2, Amleto Monacelli, Venezuela.

3, Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo.