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Bowling News USA - February 19, 2010 The Schlemer Report - USBC Masters

To alleviate any and all speculations on my whereabouts in recent weeks, I was abducted by aliens from another planet and served as their leader. Ok not really, but it sounded good anyway - well for like a minute.

Alright, all kidding aside, the past few weeks on the PBA Tour have been going alright for the Storm Nation. A few weeks back in Fountain Valley, PDW and Ryan Shafer gave it a run at the tournament named after PDW’s late father, Dick Weber. Unfortunately both of them ran into some transition trouble and never rebounded. For those who watched that telecast a few weeks back, below are the balls they used.

 

(Ryan Shafer – Virtual Energy and Hy-Road – Dick Weber Open – 5th Place Finish)

 

(Pete Weber – Invasions – Dick Weber Open – 3rd Place Finish)

 

In more recent action Team Storm had a good showing at the USBC Masters last week in Reno. Of the top 64 players in the double elimination bracket, 23 players were using Storm or Roto Grip bowling balls. Pretty good odds in any sport, but unfortunately a lot of those players met each other in various rounds thus greatly reducing our chances of having multiple players on the show. This is usually the case in a head to head bracket format. Anyway, Storm staffers Pete Weber and Jason Belmonte made it the furthest in the event. Weber used mainly a Hy-Road throughout qualifying and then was able to use two different Invasions as the matches went on. For Pete, the lanes seemed to get tighter with each round, so he felt he needed to use stronger balls. That’s why he went to Invasions. Jason Belmonte however, felt the opposite. As his matches went on, he felt the lanes hooked more so he kept going to balls with weaker drillings to get the ball through the front part of the lane. Belmo used three different T-Road Solids each with different pin placements and a Hy-Road occasionally if he need a little more kick down lane.

In the end, Storm had free agents Ryan Ciminelli and Mike Edwards battling it out for one of the four spots on the show. Edwards struggled early in the match while Ciminelli executed his plan of attack as he did throughout match play. They bowled on a pair that had been used in a previous match between two right-handers, so Mike had to deal with different transitions; Ryan however was able to create his own transition and break his side of the lane down as planned. Throughout all his matches Ryan used a Natural and hit it with 1000 Abralon® his entire practice time. That allowed him to use the friction he created as bounce and was able to use the oil right of that as his hold. Oh the joys of urethane; pushes in oil and doesn’t over read the friction. Predictable and stable, which is the sole reason Ryan loves the Natural. He can hit it as hard as he wants and it doesn’t over react. He always knows where it’s going. In case you weren’t keeping score at home, this was Ryan’s third show of the season using the Natural. I’m going to go out on a big limb, because I’m not a small guy, and say he kind of likes that ball.

As far as the show went, both Ryan and Scroggins did a good job breaking their side of the lane down in practice and during their opening match. Although missing the 7 pin late almost cost Ryan beating Scroggins the first match, he punched out in the tenth like a veteran. However, he then turned right around and made a rookie mistake against the best bowler ever. I even told him the most critical shot of any match is the one following the commercial break. If you think you need to make an adjustment, do it, don’t second guess yourself. Which he didn’t do, he second guessed his move and split because of it, open frame, game, set, match. Walter Ray sniffs out opportunities like most veterans out here. Walter did just that, all the way to hoisting the trophy.

(Ryan Ciminelli – USBC Masters – 3rd Place Finish)

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February, 2010