Daten- und Textquelle:  BOWLING THIS MONTH ®

Testmonat: August 2011

Die vollständigen Testdaten von diesem Ball finden Sie in unserem Ball Selector

Rating von 1 (flop) bis 10 (top) auf den Konditionen:

Stärken: This ball is so clean through the front that even as the heads start to break down, it shows no sign of reading the lane early. The beneht of a ball storing its energy is increased pin carry as the lane transitions.

Schwächen: Heavy or long patterns will have players reaching for Abralon pads to give the Epidemic the traction needed to avoid sliding past the breakpoint. Instead, use an Arson or Taboo on these types of patterns.

Insgesamt: The Epidemic is a ball that bowlers will be able to use for entire league session and deep into tournaments. The length and ability to clear the heads will be major factors in keeping it in a bowler’s hands longer.

Comments: The Epidemic is the third release at this price point for Hammer. It uses a new "Magneto" black version of the Biohazard core combined with the Level 5 pearl reactive cover. The polished pearl cover allows for a clean reaction through the front ofthe lane with the same strong breakpoint and back end reaction for which the Plague line is known. The Epidemic is better suited for medium and medium/dry patterns. The others in this line match up better with oilier patterns. All three testers had their best look on the medium test pattern as expected. Stroker had his best reaction playing a much straighter line than the others. The strong breakpoint and back end reaction gave Tweener the ability to move in, ending up almost right in the center of where Stroker and Cranker were playing. Cranker was really able to open up the lane giving him more area to play. Our second best look was on the dry test pattern. Tweener had the best overall reaction on this pattern due to his ball speed matching his rev rate. He was able to create more miss area than the other two testers. Cranker had the most trouble on this pattern. The Epidemic’s shiny cover stores energy for when the ball encounters dry boards. Cranker’s rev rate made the reaction erratic to be kind. Our oily test pattern gave us the reaction we thought we would have and we went to the spinner right away to make the needed changes. We removed the polish to give the Epidemic the traction needed for this pattern. We used a 3000 Abralon pad for Cranker’s ball and a 2000 Abralon pad for Tweener and Stroker’s. The sport pattern didn’t offer much of a look for any of our testers. On this pattern, we couldn’t get enough out of the Epidemic when we missed wide and it was too strong at the back end when we squared up. Removing the polish will help smooth out the reaction when bowling on a tougher pattern.