THIS MONTH'S writing finds us behind the 8-ball (so to speak) with six new releases and two updates. Whew! Skip a month and they really pile up!

TRACK: Critical Mass Code Red Special Edition

There seems to be a lot of "new" stuff that uses old cores with tweaked covers. Some of these releases are so-so and some are really strong. Put the Code Red S/E in the latter category, a very big-hooking ball in comparison to the old version. It uses the original Code Red modified two-piece core with the Powertech Ceramic core, which is a quick-revving, easy-to-roll core that was pretty smooth with the original cover. The base of this core is a large ball with a super dense flip-block on top, a medium density control block on the bottom and the Powertech ceramic inner core in the core center. This medium Rg core has medium/low differential for moderate flare potential; 14-16 pound weights can be drilled in any two-piece manner. Now before you think, "Ugh! A low flare ball," read on!

The new cover - Track's Powerplus with gold mica - puts this one in the big hook category. This reactive urethane formula is a juiced-up version of the aggressive cover used on the Triton Elite. The new set of tires allows the S/E to cover a bunch of boards, and gives players all of the hook they could want. The Cherry Red cover with gold-filled logos and box sheen (looks like 1000-grit wet sand) modifies easily to match release strength. This core/cover combo delivers a quick revving, heavy mid-lane roll with a very aggressive backend. A strong release can get this one to turn the corner quickly, but the ball's fortŽ is its big, smooth overall hook and hit.

With a pair of S/Es, we label-drilled the right-side ball with pin at leverage and box finish. On a fresh condition, we could move into the puddle in the middle and play a small loop or bump the outside drier boards and let the ball do the work. The core delivered rev and roll; the cover gave a predictable, consistent hook. Box finish was too much for the pups, so we applied a medium polish for the rev players. The left-side ball was drilled with the pin 5 inches from PAP for more control. Box finish gave great play up the boards or inside out; the polish yielded additional length and a sharper hook. The major comment from all users regardless of surface was how much and how smoothly the ball hooked. This is not a skid/snap ball, but it covers boards and hits with about any ball on the market.

LANE #1: Raspberry Buzz Saw C2

First, this ball needs a hook rating change in the Ball Reaction Guide. The Buzz Saw C2 was a late arrival that did not receive a full shakedown and the hook rating was assigned from spec info. This sleeper delivers more overall hook than the spec sheet led us to believe.

At the heart of this ball is Lane #1's patented full diamond-dense core, which delivers more power than prior Lane #1 balls by the addition of two dense Ceramic Diamonds stacked on top of each other. This medium Rg core offers Rg differential on the medium/high side and allows the C2 to spin up quick and easy off the hand and deliver up to 7 inches of flare based on drill layout and release. Speaking of drills, Lane #1 has packed some easy-to-use drill sheets to simplify layouts. But static balances are a minor influence; pin placement, size and location of balance holes and ball surface are the major factors in overall reaction.

Box finish on this Raspberry (with yellow logos and pin) is a finely sanded matte finish which changes easily as needs dictate. This reactive cover is a little more aggressive than the Black Buzz Saw C or Silver Diamond Buzz Saw.

Thanks to the folks at Lane #1 for a Buzz Saw C2 to put to use. We still like the idea of the label being placed so the pin is at 12:00. If the ball uses a label, this engraving allows for a cleaner look on the drilled ball for pin twists or left-hand drills. We turned the pin on the 15-pound test ball to allow a label drill with pin at leverage and no hole. Lane #1 has produced a lot of quick revving products and the C2 is the best yet. This ball revs up effortlessly and delivers a heavy mid-lane and back-end roll with strong hooking action and great hitting power. We used this one in box condition and could play virtually any line on the lane. The C2 recovers well from the puddle and delivers playable length and strong hook on lighter oil with less hand. We applied a light polish to this one and had to tighten up in the oil, but could open the lane a little on lighter patterns. The Thumbless One took this one and we may have to "rassle" him to get it back. The C2 has delivered his powerful release a string of steady 279-297 games on a variety of conditions.

While not a common pro shop name, Lane #1 offers some awesome performance balls.

FABALL: Sledge Hammer

Hey, HammerHeads! Here's Hammer's new hook monster, the best thing out of Baltimore since Johnny U. and the Colts. A totally new core design and new reactive cover offer the most consistently hooking Hammer yet.

The heart of this new Quad Density core is a remake of the 3D core system. The shape of this core looks like a basic 3D core on steroids with a flip-ring around the upper flip-block and core body. The Quad core is big, powerful and consistent. The main core is the densest used in an Offset Hammer to increase the ball's rev rate. The upper and lower flip-blocks are the largest used in an Offset core and are dynamically balanced to increase flare and help deliver a consistent reaction. The fourth density (thus Quad density) consists of a ring (donut?) around the upper core body and flip-block to offer more drive through the pindeck. The core body is still marked with the H.O.T. (Hammer Offset Technology) spot to allow for ease of layouts. This core is low Rg with a medium-high Rg differential. The Quad Density core is utilized in 13- to 16-pound weights with average pin distances from 1 inch to 41Ú2 inches. Hammer packs drill sheets with the ball to allow for condition/roll reaction drills.

The new cover is Hammer's Microreactive Resin Urethane, which features micro-sized squares of silver Mica 200-400 percent larger than on prior Offset Hammer cover stocks. This is one big set of tires, folks. This Microreactive Resin cover offers consistency to the shot and is very versatile to surface alteration. The big plus on this cover/core combo is the consistency of reaction regardless of ball surface. The Crimson Red cover (neon yellow logos and pin) comes out of the box with a 500-grit sanded surface but sands/polishes easily. The core revs this one up, the flip-blocks offer big hook and the cover lets the ball keep hooking. Set the surface for the oil pattern and your release and watch this ball turn the corner and keep going. This Microreactive cover borders on the continued hooking action offered by some newer non-reactive urethane materials.

Faball gave us a pair of 15-pound Sledge Hammers for review. We applied our preferred (pin 1 inch outside ring finger and HOT spot 1-inch off grip line) Offset drill to our ball, while Mr. Beach used a length/control back-end drill on the left-handed ball. The box finish on our ball really opened up the lane with the consistent backend. All we had to do was hit what we were looking at, or get close. The ball will not overcome operator error, but it does roll, hook and hit very well. Since this ball/box finish helps these old bones so well, we've made the pups leave the polish off the ball. The heavy-handed pups have been very impressed with the way the Sledge Hammer delivers strong continued hook. This ball doesn't quit, just like Hammer says. The left-side drill went from box to light polish, medium polish and finally gloss polish and was used by four players with different turn and release strengths. The increased polishes moved the breakpoint down the lane, but the hook was consistent and continued. We've watched a dozen or so players with a wide variety of hand to speed use the Sledge Hammer. We have not yet seen anyone get the ball to quit on the backend. The Sledge Hammer has yet to hook/stop. The recovery will vary from quick/strong to smooth, but the ball just keeps on turning the corner. Hammerheads, jump on the Sledge Hammer, set the ball surface and watch this one keep turning and hitting.

EBONITE: Tomahawk X-plosion

We've got a performance update on this one after getting a 15-pounder to shake out. We were looking for a strong/smooth hook out of this ball, so we drilled it with the pin at leverage and the B.O.M.B. at a 45-degree angle. We are happy to report the X-plosion delivers the big, smooth hook we were looking for. The 800-grit sanded surface on this ball makes it very mellow in the puddle on most house shots and smooth when played on the lighter portion of the top hat. A light polish allowed the X-plosion to hook sharper on lighter patterns, but these old bones can't generate the power to cross the lake in the middle and get the ball back left. The cranker pups had no problem flipping the X-plosion back from anywhere across the lane, but when we applied a 320-sand so we could move deep with them, this surface hooked up too early for their power game. The box surface and 45-degree B.O.M.B. drill gave this one a strong smooth hook and a broad window of condition coverage for our average (or less) release. The cover strength and core power will probably put a premium on the ball surface matching lane condition for power players.

EBONITE: Riptide

The Riptide is Ebonite's first performance ball with the new Pro Reactive cover material. This cover is of a urethane material that is from a different family from conventional "reactive" covers; it is very aggressive (biggest hook potential of any Ebonite cover), and is box-finished with a medium/high polish. The light purple Riptide uses white logos and pin and can be drilled in any two-piece manner or you can consult Ebonite's Symmetrical Core drilling guide.

The new cover is wrapped around a proven work-horse core - the Werewolf Core - which offers medium/high Rg differential for a flare potential of over 6 inches (a bit more with a heavy hand). Construction offers pin distances from 1-inch to over 5 inches.

We had two Riptides to drill and use; the first had a 5" pin-out and received a power drill by our left-handed cohort. Whoops! This ball was a bad choice for a power player; if the lanes had too much backend, you don't even see the turn signal blink before it moves. Scuffing the ball only helped if it was given to a weaker hand or Dave took a lot of hand out of the ball. When we got the 3-inch pin-out ball, we applied a label drill with the pin at leverage. With our old hand, the ball jerked very quickly when it hit the dry... no matter where it was dry. On a tighter pattern, the ball wanted to go very long. We used a gray pad and mellowed the ball considerably. On wet/dry, it gave playable length and a big hook. On tighter lanes, it rolled up nicely in the mid-lane and arced to the hole consistently. We have heard rumors of this cover coming out on other cores. Even for these old bones, this cover should work great on a milder core; the Riptide has one heck of a set of tires.

BRUNSWICK: Impact Zone

OK, a new reactive Zone. No, we mean a new core, a new cover and a new look. This is not a reactive Zone with a turned or tweaked core. This Barbell-looking core uses a dense inner core with two-piece construction in 16 pound, four-piece design with three-part multi-density core in 15 pound and four-piece design with a three-component compound core in 12- to 14-pound weights. This medium/high Rg core offers Medium Rg differential with the new reactive cover from Bayer giving up some extra flare potential. The Impact Zone can be drilled in any two-piece manner or one of Brunswick's seven layouts may be used, from pin-in up to 4-1/2-inch pin-out construction.

The new reactive cover (burgundy with a sparkle polished finish) uses yellow and white Zone and Impact logos and can be sanded- or gloss-polished as needed. The new cover from Bayer is formulated to offer a smooth/straight roll up front and is touted to be the strongest reactive back-end yet. The one knock we've had on most Zones (the Defense and Speed Demon excepted) is they never met a dry board they wouldn't hook on. As a rule, it's difficult for even a rev-challenged hand to get a Zone down the lane when the heads blow. We drilled up four Impacts and passed them around to 15 different styles of players; no one had a problem clearing the front of any condition.

With two Impact Zones to drill and use, we drilled label leverage, pin and CG on grip line, stack leverage and low Rg for rev and control. The lefties got high Rg and low Rg drills, while the right side got the leverage drills (lefty ideas; not mine). All drills delivered excellent length for all styles of users with a violent to smooth backend based on drill and strength. The righties with big hit were the only users with a problem; their release on wet/dry gave them a quick/hard snap. This was solved with a light hazing of the surface with a gray pad. The Scotch Brite let the ball bleed some mid-lane energy to smooth out the hook. We softer releases liked the box polish on any head condition with backends. The Impact let us look like we learned to get a ball through the heads and how to hook it on the backend. The Impact Zone is very clean up front and can be a boomer on the backend.

BRUNSWICK: Zone Pro Teal

The Zone Pro Teal is the latest addition to the Brunswick line utilizing Bayer's Axiom Proactive Urethane. This ETX 5 (Enhanced Traction Effect) Proactive formula is a step above the Blue Zone Pro in aggressiveness. This cover is cleaner and straighter up front and sharper hooking on the backend. Proactive is more of an arcing cover, but this potion with the core delivers more of a "jarc"; i.e., not a jerk, but not in the arcing category either. This teal ball uses yellow and white Zone Pro Active logos and pin. The box finish is a moderate shine and the ball can be scuffed or polished as needed. But even if you spend some time polishing this tough cover, don't look for a reactive type gloss.

The core looks like a slightly stretched version of the Blue Zone Pro Core; Brunswick says it's a little higher Rg with similar Rg Differential. Methinks there is a bullish smell in the air because this one shows a lot sharper move on the backend: the core has to deliver a good part of this hook. This medium/high Rg core with medium/high differential still offers great drilling versatility. The 16-pound model uses a two-part compound core while 12- to 15-pound balls will have four-part design with a three-part compound core. This is a strong core/cover combo: power players will probably want to use weaker drills. Weaker hands can use just about any drill and let the ball do most of the work.

With a pair of Zone Pro Teal balls to use, the left-hand 15-pound ball got the pin 5 inches from PAP with CG on grip line. Even this high pin has proven to be too much ball for any type of a house shot for any portsider with a release. We can only say this one clears any kind of head oil very well, but knows no limits or stoppage on the hook side. We don't see this one much unless it is show time or there has been a rare occasion when open play has created some carry-down. A Scotch Brite pass only affected the length by a couple of feet, but didn't slow down the backend as expected. The other comp was drilled with pin and CG 3 inchs from PAP and extra hole on the PAP. We opted for a lower pin drill to roll this one up sooner in an effort to lose some energy through the mid-lane. Nice try, but the ball doesn't know it is supposed to be earlier and smoother. The ball is nice and clean up front with oil, but the backend is a bit more than we strokers like to play. The Zone Pro Teal is just amazing when it turns the corner. We hit this one with a burgundy pad and held it in ready reserve for drier heads and carrydown. The cranker pups like to see how much grass stain they can get on this one. This one goes out to the weeds very well and comes back screaming. Everyone who's used the Zone Pro Teal recommends missing right 'cause this ball is simply in the awesome hook category.

AMF: Michael Jordan Slam

This satin sheen (1000-grit wet sand) black MJ ball uses red logos and pin with the number 23 and the Jordan signature. The cover on the MJ is M2 Super-Flex Pearl, but the ball looks more fazed than pearlized. The cover takes well to sanding and polishes very easily.

The core of this one is the basic Slam core with an add-on. The large ball main core has a large dense torque block on top with a CeramaSlam Ceramics orb in the lower portion of the main core. This core construction offers a medium/high Rg with a medium Rg differential. This core will offer all bowlers quick revs with more flare/hook and reaction potential. Two-piece drills, or choose to use one of the easy-to-use box drills.

With a pair of 15-pound Slams to use, our left-handed compatriot chose a high Rg/forward roll drill and pulls this one out of the bag first most of the time. The cover is very versatile and the lefty settled on a 600-sand after trying various surfaces which, with the drill, allows him to play in the puddle with a small swing and a nice pop on the backend. The ball also plays up the dry very well with firm ball speed. The drill tries to retain energy for a strong finish, but the surface bleeds off power for a smooth hook. This ball does not get loaned out often. We used a leverage drill with arc layout and no balance hole. After playing with different surfaces, we went back to the box finish as this gives a very strong/readable reaction on a big window of conditions. On dry, we open up the lane and on tighter conditions, we just move in and play more direct. The cranker pups were reluctant to use a dull ball, but after a couple tried it, they all wanted to play. The speed and turn of the stronger players delivers the length and the ball impresses all users with a big, smooth arcing hook and pin-punishing hit. If you are expecting a fluff ball with an autograph on it, surprise. The Michael Jordan Slam is a very strong, mid-priced performance ball.