Home

I thought I would give you some insight into the Vapor Zone that matched up to Parker and the Cheetah pattern in Cheektowaga.

First it is important to understand the ball itself.

Here are the numbers on the Vapor Zone

The characteristics of the Vapor Zone that I was looking to use this week was the quicker motion off of the dry boards it creates. It isn't very often that I want a ball to skid/snap and that was no different this week. I was looking to create a smooth but quicker reaction off of the dry at the 35 to 40 foot range. The other ball option Parker already had was the Absolute Inferno pictured below

Click to enlarge

The absolute was close and it was possible for Parker to use but I didn't like the motion off of the dry boards. The ball made too hard of a move off of the dry. If the ball read the length I wanted to see it make its move it wasn't smooth enough forcing Parker to use more angle through the front or use a break point further down lane. I could have used another Absolute but to smooth it out I would of had to do one of the following:

1.I could have used a stronger pin, which I opted against because the total amount of flare would have Parker seeing quick early transition that he would have moved in off of.

2.I could have used a bigger hole on the axis - I opted against that because the motion would have been smoother than the Vapor and Parker could have thrown it through the break point easier.

3. I could have used more surface but that would have Parker reading transitions more dramatically. It would have gone from looking strong to weak instead of weak to stronger.

4. I could have used a lower pin but that would have taken away the length wise window. Had the ball gotten longer during the oil going down the lane transition which is very dominant on the left side of the lane, it would not have gotten through the pins as well.

By process of elimination I didn't like my options with the Absolute as well as I liked my options with the Vapor. Had the amount of friction down lane been greater or the mid-lane easier to read I would have opted to use the Absolute.

My concern with the Vapor was that it would jump off the dry too hard. Having the Zone core allows me to manipulate the shape or motion of the ball off of the dry more dramatically than I can with the Absolute.

I knew the Absolute was close so I was comfortable with the pin to axis distance and in my desire to allow Parker to stay left I felt I could weaken the pin a little bit. The difference in pin to axis distance between the Absolute and the Vapor is 3/8ths of an inch. The pin to axis distance of the Vapor is 5 1/8 inches.

The location of the secondary pin is very important in the equation. The location of the secondary pin was chosen to create a smoother motion off of the hook spot. The natural characteristics of the Vapor provides  a quicker motion off of the hook spot, which I felt would help Parker see his ball read the mid-lane more defined without using a stronger pin to axis distance.

If you can tell by now I knew where and how I wanted the ball to read the lane, but the main consideration had to do with how Parker would read ball reaction during the transition stages. The first transition would be oil going down lane, followed by the front drying up when he would be staying on the same pair during match-play. I wanted to keep Parker more on line so I wanted to use a pin to axis distance that was further from not closer to the axis.

The core of the Vapor defined the mid-lane and the location of the secondary pin gave me the shape.

Notice the elliptical shape of the Zone core. Off of Parkers hand the elliptical shape of the core has a wider profile in relation to Parker's ball track. As the ball track flares around the ball the orientation of this elliptical shape relative to the bowlers track changes. The chosen orientation creates a smoother motion overall.

The layout tweaks the characteristics of the ball design. The surface of the Vapor Zone was factory finish with a light scuff with a gray scotch brite to get the polish off.

As you can tell a lot of the decisions made are based on a desire to create the picture or shape I had in my mind that I thought would match up to the environment and transitions. There could have been several ways to create the shape I had in my mind but keeping it through the expected transition is where the separation occurs.