Ball Review: Ebonite Warrior Supreme

Ball: Ebonite Warrior Supreme

Surface: 500/3000 Abralon Grit Sanded

Layout: 70 degrees x 5 1/4" x 50 degrees

PAP: 5 1/2" x 1/2" Up

Today's ball review is the Ebonite Warrior Supreme. This 500 / 3000 grit Abralon sanded ball from the US manufactured Hopkinsville, KY brand is one of the big oil monsters from the Ebonite brand. I first drilled this ball earlier in the Summer, and saw immediate success with it at a sweeper at Sterling Bowl in Sugar Creek, MO. The Warrior Supreme offers strong mid-lane read with a continuous backend movement. I wouldn't call this ball angular in any way, but strong overall is the key.

First things first - I didn't really drill this ball with any intention in mind. It was simply a new "color" in my bag, which really isn't the reason to drill a new ball. In fact, it's one of the worst reasons as a player. But sometimes you just want a fresh ball with fresh technology and a fresh surface, right? I had liked the original Warrior and Warrior Elite quite a bit, and was set on seeing what this line extension would do.

I drilled the Warrior Supreme with my standard asymmetric ball layout - a 70 x 5 1/4" x 45 layout. The 70 degree drill angle builds length in the front end of the ball reaction, while the 45 degree VAL portion of the layout gives the ball a moderately slow transition at the breakpoint. I tend to like seeing medium length with curvy backend ball motion. The last thing I like to see in my reaction is flip down lane (just me personally). With a 5 1/4" pin to PAP distance built-in, I'm delaying track flare until the ball clears the front, but still making it strong enough to flare 3-4". So this layout makes a lot of sense for me visually.

The Ebonite Warrior Supreme gave me moderate length through slick to medium front-end lane conditions. It does tend to read a bit early once the fronts break down, but that's not its intended lane condition anyway. That's when you're supposed to throw Warrior Red Pearl or Gamebreaker 2 Gold. Once the ball reads the mid-lane, Warrior Supreme offers the strongest backend continuation of anything I've seen in their product line in quite some time. With a black/purple combination, you get a ball that's easy to read as well.

Warrior Supreme also seems to have a cover that responds well to surface changes. I prefer to clean this one with Powerhouse Clean n' Dull, and I regularly touch it up with 3000 grit Abralon pads. Every time I do, the ball seems to be a bit revived, and reads the oil nicely. Overall, this was a nice piece from the Ebonite brand, and the Warrior series has been good for me on the whole. With a wide variety in ball motion from Warrior, to Warrior Elite, to Warrior Supreme, the Ebonite line has a nice high-performance series going here.