The Hyper Venom brings a new coverstock to Motiv’s Venom line. The Propulsion Pearl veneer has appeared previously in several formulations on numerous balls, including the Supra Rally, Ripcord Launch, and Pride Empire. With the new Propulsion MXR Pearl coverstock wrapped around the Gear Symmetrical core, the new Hyper Venom provides a sharper breakpoint and more back end than previous Venom releases. The 5500 grit polished box finish provided easy length and allowed all three of our testers to get to the pocket by playing straighter angles on the fresh before taking full advantage of the ball design later in our test session as the oil transitioned.

Stroker had the best look out of the three testers on the dry test pattern. The Hyper Venom gave him all the hold he wanted if he missed inside of target, along with plenty of recovery if he got it a little wide. Quite often on this pattern, Stroker finds balls that strike on the fresh and then struggle in transition, or vice versa. The Hyper Venom did not have this problem at all. The ball completely ignored any traffic in the front of the lane from Microcell Polymer and urethane balls removing oil from the front. He still had easy length and plenty of back end to tighten up his line and fight through the carrydown.

Stroker had the best reaction of our three bowlers on the fresh medium oil pattern as well. His natural ability to play the lanes straighter was exactly what this ball wanted on the fresh. He could play just outside the track and let the strong downlane motion bring the ball back ...