The Black Pearl Bloody Ocean from Lane Masters features the asymmetrical Objet core design that is paired with the pearlized XRT 1321 coverstock, which comes out of the box sanded at 4000 grit. This combination handled oil better than expected, providing enough overall hook to be used with success on our heavy oil pattern and enough versatility to be used by all three of our bowlers at box finish on all four of our patterns. The testers had between four and five inches of track flare in the oil, which the cover absorbed pretty quickly.

Stroker started with the Black Pearl Bloody Ocean on the medium pattern. With the box finish, he played the track, keeping his breakpoint around board nine. His ball picked up very nicely in the middle of the lane and split the 8 and 9 pins as it went off the pin deck. In transition, he moved his feet three boards left and his target at the arrows two boards left, keeping his breakpoint the same downlane while continuing to see a strong shape through the pins. On the heavy oil pattern, he needed to straighten up his line and reduce his ball speed, but he could still get to the pocket. As the track opened up, his reaction only improved. If he needed to use the Black Pearl Bloody Ocean on this type of condition, he would sand the cover to a rougher grit to ...