Is This The MVP You’re Looking For…
First Impressions
A simple inexpensive ball that flat out hooks downlane. I expect it to be another successful formula for Roto Grip.
Our Testers:
Tamer Elbaga (Lefty)
Style: Tweener
RPM: 375 rpm
PAP: 5 & 3/8 up
Average Speed: 18.5 mph (at release)
Axis tilt: low
Axis rotation: medium/high
Test Equipment: 14 Pounds
Layout: 65 x 5 x 40
Intent: Medium/long roll with a medium transition at the breakpoint
Jeremy Hilbert (Righty)
Style: cranker
RPM: 440 rpm
PAP: 4 & 3/4 up
Average Speed: 19.5 mph (at release)
Axis tilt: high
Axis rotation: medium
Test Equipment: 14 Pounds
Layout: 50 x 4 x 40
Intent: Medium/long roll with a medium transition at the breakpoint
Bryan Hoffman (Righty)
Style: Higher Tilt Stroker
RPM: 280 rpm
PAP: 4 1/4 & 1/8 down
Average Speed: 17.5 mph (at release)
Axis tilt: high
Axis rotation: medium
Test Equipment: 14 Pounds
Layout: 65 x 4.5 x 35
Intent: Medium roll with a slow transition at the breakpoint
Thanks to Jeff Smith and Pure It Bowling for drilling our equipment.
Buy the Roto Grip MVP at PureItBowling.com.
Thanks to Limerick Bowl in Limerick, PA.
“Keep in mind that coverstock accounts for 70% of ball reaction, but the core creates the dynamic shape of the reaction. Your driller will alter the shape to suit your game.”
Test Pattern:
THS: 40ft, 23ml
Sport: KEGEL Winding Road: 39ft, 22.45 ml, 2.93:1 ratio
Value
A
The score is easy for the MVP as has seemed to be the case with most HP2 line balls. They are inexpensive and punch way above their pay grade.
Specs
The Roto Grip MVP uses the Neutron NXT™ Core (Symmetrical) core inside the VTC-H19™ hybrid coverstock.
15 pound = RG of 2.55, diff of .040
14 pound = RG of 2.55, diff of .040
Coverstock finish: 1500 grit polished
Overall
THS: B+
Sport: B
The MVP continues the trend of really good balls in the lower end lines for Roto Grip. It’s clean as you would expect and the thing that opens your eyes is the strong backend motion. There are several different ball motion types. This fits closely with the skid/flip in a sense that it gets down lane and makes a hard turn. It’s not that it’s super sharp but definitely goes. But simply put, I like to throw pieces that make a move and then it’s my job to control it as opposed to very smooth pieces that I have to try to make move. When this ball is working, it’s going to look great. I can see many bowlers using this ball on their medium/medium dry house shots successfully. And I believe this punchy downlane motion will increase carry for bowlers as well.
Here’s what I see. All the HP2 and HP1 balls basically have right around 2.54 diff so on the longer side. Where they vary is the differential. The Hot Shot core in the Winner balls has a fairly high diff at .050 or so. The Hustles have a .030 which makes them much smoother. What the MVP does is split the difference. With the .040 diff, it still has some of the smoothness of the Hustles but grabs some of the punch from the Winners. This one really finds a happy medium. The one challenge I will say is that this isn’t the strongest cover so is susceptible to the carrydown or transition. Once that hits, it just seems to lose the midlane grip. That extra couple of feet of skid just seems to ruin the ball reaction. So fresh was no issue. Breakdown is no issue. Transition, not so much.
Jeremy was next. With how clean this ball is he tried to play more direct. Our house has friction to the outside but the ball doesn’t come flying back from way out like some houses. He started by seeing over under. However, once he got to the 3rd arrow, the MVP was right at home. He needed to get away from the friction line a bit as the ball is stronger than anticipated. He could test the waters up to about 18 at the arrows but that was the limit. Still the ball has a no frills long and strong look.
Bryan also had fun throwing the MVP. Sometimes middle of the road symmetric clean pieces don’t match up for Bryan as well at Limerick but wit the backend this ball generated, he had a great look and excellent carry. He got lined up quickly and felt like the ball gave him some miss room in and out. The pocket was fairly wide. There was a point where he also saw some transition as I did and it started pushing through the spot and coming in a bit late. He was able to quickly adjust and find the carry again.
Sport Shot
We tested on the 39ft Kegel Winding Road pattern. It had about 1.5 games bowled on it so more or less fresh. It showed off its angularity as it pushed me deeper than I was playing with other pieces. This is where you really see how much backend the ball really has. As a lefty on fresh, I probably wouldn’t want or need this much angularity but it was definitely a different look that’s nice to have when needed.
For Jeremy it was similar. The MVP is really punchy downlane, perhaps a touch too much. This much angle shrinks the pocket a bit on sport while it widens it on house. Funnily enough, he also tested on the 45ft Rt 66 pattern and the MVP looked fantastic for Jeremy on that pattern. I don’t have video but the angularity seemed to make it easy to strike on the longer pattern.
Bryan felt like Winding Road was as he says, “a piece of cake” with the MVP. He lined up more or less the same area as the house shot and he felt that it gave him more forgiveness to the outside than his Marvel Pearl. So for Bryan with his more direct trajectory, the added downlane motion really benefitted him.
Final Thoughts
Long story short the Roto Grip MVP seems well worth the money. It looked really good on the house shot. Watch the transition but otherwise, it’s pretty versatile. It also really did have some prowess on sport shots for various bowlers for various reasons. But it seems a motion every bowler could find something with. While it’s early days to say this ball is in the Wreck-em, Wrecker stratosphere, it seems cut from the same cloth.