Storm Victory Road Solid Bowling Ball Review

The Victory Road Solid is the latest addition to the Thunder line of Storm bowling balls. This ball comes at a sanded 3000 Abralon finish and uses the same core as the original Victory Road. We struggled finding a consistent reaction on any of our test patterns with the Victory Road Solid at its box finish.

Our best look was on the heavy test pattern. The sanded finish bit through the oil and provided easy hook for Stroker and Tweener. Cranker had some problems right from the start. These problems are the same ones Tweener and Stroker saw after about a game of testing. The coverstock is so strong with the box surface that it was too much hook too early on the lane. When we moved left and tried to open the lane, the ball couldn’t store enough energy to go through the pins correctly.

All three testers had the same issue on the medium pattern. The solution was a simple one. We used Storm’s Step Two Compound on all three test balls and immediately saw the Victory Road Solid storing the energy to give a much better reaction down lane.

On our short test pattern, the Victory Road Solid was unusable. Stroker has never gotten three off the left until using this ball on this pattern. We added a generous glob of Xtra Shine and were able to keep the ball to the right side of the head pin.

Our sport pattern gave us the same trouble as the medium pattern. We saw a lot of friction in the first fifteen feet of the lane. It was instant hook or a hook/set motion when we tried to move inside to get it through the front. Again, adding compound got the ball to have the right shape going down the lane. On our patterns, there was just too much power out of the Victory Road Solid. For bowlers who see massive amounts of oil on low friction surfaces, this ball screams to be thrown.

Strengths

The amount of total hook we saw on our heavy test pattern was impressive. There will never be too much oil on the lane to use the Victory Road Solid out of the box.

Weaknesses

The ball uses so much energy so quickly as the oil starts to carry down the lane, it is easy for it to stand up too early. Smoother surfaces and weaker layouts are a must to use this on medium conditions.

Overall Summary

The Victory Road solid offers one of the largest overall hook potentials of any ball at this price point on the market. The cover is versatile enough that it isn’t limited to just heavy oil patterns with the proper preparation.