Fastest Break Speed Ever Recorded?

Mike Dechaine has the record (so I'm told) at 38 mph.

LastTwo said:
Isn't the fastest break around 30mph? I wonder that if Bruce Lee were alive, if he could use his inner "chi" to break the balls 10x as hard. That would rule.
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At the Bicycle Club in 94 they had a speed gun and Sammy Jones hit them at 33 mph....Bustemante and I was 31 mph.....this was before high tech break cues.

Mike Dechaine has the record (so I'm told) at 38 mph....that's the fastest according to my sources.
 
The top breakers seem to be in the 33-35 mph range. Dechaine & Hillbilly seem to be the toppermost of the poppermost. MD posted that he hit 35 mph with the BK3 when it hit the market. CB recorded a 34.7 many years back.

Here's a MD 33.5.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy_vt_M5X48

I don't know how fast this particular break was, but it shows his ability to hit it hard with precision. Imagine the small margin for error for the CB to go straight up & not flying off on some tangent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGUFX-d-Fo4
 
This topic comes up pretty often, and the two players most often cited as having the fastest break ever are Jeff Deluna and Mike Dechaine.
 
I know I personally have broke over 30mph several times, but only verifed by break speed app.

I know one thing, it's pointless for me to break that hard. IT'S SO difficult to keep control. We sometimes will dink around with break speed competitions. We only count breaks that stay on the table. 30mph+ is a rarity for most. They're always done with break speed app.

Either way it's all good fun!!!
 
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Dechaine's break is fast, but wild.
Bustamante has said on TAR that he used to break 38mph when he was younger.
I'd like to see what Larry Nevel's break speed is.
 
Accurate speed is the question

Many people will use the break speed app to find their speed. That is not accurate because it measures the distance and times the sound of the shot to the sound of the cue ball hitting the rack. This would be either an average speed or a guess for the top speed. A speed gun would be most accurate. And then it could be manipulated. So, you need to make sure that it is correctly zeroed prior to use.

When buying a breakrak, I noticed that ceebee offers a speed gun option now. It attaches to a rail that crosses the table just behind the rack. The rails sits on the long rails.
 
I think even with perfect form, it's impossible for the cue ball to stay on the table
past a certain speed. I don't know exactly what that speed is. Maybe 33-35 mph.

Any break harder than that will fly and is just for showing off,
it has no value playing actual pool.
Here's Dechaine's 33.5 which never had a chance to stay grounded.

The rail itself prevents you from shooting with a 100% level cue in the kitchen,
so the ball will always jump.
 
freedog69 said:
Mike Dechaine has hit over 37 mph and over 30 mph consistently. This is during break speed contests not during tournament play.
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I took this particular shot of Mike testing the BK3 and the speed app (notice the phone on the table), on a 7ft. table last july at the BCAPL. The result was 35.5 or 36.5, I'm not sure but definitely one or the other.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...a.446311045468775.1073741827.432919643474582#

He broke a couple of times when the cueball flew off, but on this occasion, the cueball bounced 4 or 5 times very high and stayed on the table :thumbup:


... And if you haven't noticed the cueball is not the ball flying a bit off the cloth. It's the one at the top of the frame, by the light :grin:

I've never seen Mike break as hard in tournament play of course.
 
speed

Several years ago at the Iowa state pool tourn. Jesse Bowman, Jamie Baraks, and John Kachero battled at the break contest ,they all were over33mph. nothing counted if cueball left the table.Jamie and John both hit 35.Fun to watch.but for thecash being a oldtimer ill take Wade Crane (just saying)
 
jpparmentier said:
... And if you haven't noticed the cueball is not the ball flying a bit off the cloth. It's the one at the top of the frame, by the light :grin:
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Quoted for emphasis! I would never have seen it if you didn't say something.

That jumping ball is a light blue striped ball (cyclop balls, 15 ball)...
the light blue looks like shadow/reflection of the blue cloth below.
And the black 15 could be mistaken for a single red dot, at facebook resolution.
So it looks like a cue ball.

That pic is unreal, I'm gonna post it as a "what's wrong with this picture" and see
how many of my pool playing buddies spot it.
 
biggame said:
I heard john K. hit them like 34-36 mph in vegas about 4to 5 years ago and larry nevel was like 32.
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Wow, I thought about Nevel, he broke the hardest I have ever seen and he was "only" 32. WOW:eek:

The other ones I have heard about was Wade Crane (RIP), and Medina. But they are old timers and probably before anyone checked.

Ken
 
Ken_4fun said:
Wow, I thought about Nevel, he broke the hardest I have ever seen and he was "only" 32. WOW:eek:

The other ones I have heard about was Wade Crane (RIP), and Medina. But they are old timers and probably before anyone checked.

Ken
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Nevel is the most powerful hitter I've ever seen live. I wouldn't be surprised if he can hit 30+ mph and keep the CB on the table, by using some draw, which takes away speed, but squirts the CB upward to reduce the bounce.

I suspect some of the radar results were dodgy and some of the app results were for 9 foot table distances done on 8 footers.

My best app result was 27 mph, keeping CB on table. Though I haven't done heaps of testing with it, I think it is similar to some of the breaks I performed in the intro to my power breaking video here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xW1tsONEI_U

Anything over 25mph hitting center ball is very hard to keep the CB on the table. But I believe a really powerful hitter can exceed that with draw, such that upward deflection can reduce the CB bounce. Sweeping upward can also assist in reducing bounce.

I wouldn't trust the early test that measured how far a CB landed from the end of a table by the martial arts guy. It's possible that the CB landed near the end of the table, which had the rail removed, and hence bounced from there.

I'd guess that a break around 25mph is about as hard as any player would want to hit a break if they wanted to maximize spread and minimize fouling risk.
 
Colin Colenso said:
Nevel is the most powerful hitter I've ever seen live. I wouldn't be surprised if he can hit 30+ mph and keep the CB on the table, by using some draw, which takes away speed, but squirts the CB upward to reduce the bounce.

I suspect some of the radar results were dodgy and some of the app results were for 9 foot table distances done on 8 footers.

My best app result was 27 mph, keeping CB on table. Though I haven't done heaps of testing with it, I think it is similar to some of the breaks I performed in the intro to my power breaking video here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xW1tsONEI_U

Anything over 25mph hitting center ball is very hard to keep the CB on the table. But I believe a really powerful hitter can exceed that with draw, such that upward deflection can reduce the CB bounce. Sweeping upward can also assist in reducing bounce.

I wouldn't trust the early test that measured how far a CB landed from the end of a table by the martial arts guy. It's possible that the CB landed near the end of the table, which had the rail removed, and hence bounced from there.

I'd guess that a break around 25mph is about as hard as any player would want to hit a break if they wanted to maximize spread and minimize fouling risk.
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Colin, It is interesting you mentioned draw. When I try to hit "too hard" with draw during a break, occasionally the CB jumps off the table before reaching the OB. Is there any good technique to avoid it?
 
rubell said:
Colin, It is interesting you mentioned draw. When I try to hit "too hard" with draw during a break, occasionally the CB jumps off the table before reaching the OB. Is there any good technique to avoid it?
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It's hard to answer without seeing the actual shot. Is it possible you're jumping the CB some by underscooping? Generally, any shot under 20mph on a 9 foot table the CB should land back down on a center ball hit. When getting in the 23+ mph zone, the CB is airborne all the way to hitting the 1 ball.
 
What I do I point the cue a little bit down, hit below the equator and my cue tip lands on a table after the break shot. Maybe I create too much speed then.
 
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Most powerful controlled break I ever saw was David Howard's, who was a karate expert as well. I'm sure he was in the 30's consistently. Hardest break ever may have been George Breedlove, before he began to dislocate his shoulder. His break was actually ear splitting if you stood to close. I'm guessing he was on the highest end of the spectrum. Right next to him I would put Kucharo, who had a monster break and game. Too bad he fell by the wayside so early on in his career.

Just a hair behind these guys are players like Wade Crane, Danny Medina, Charley Bryant and Larry Nevel. I'm guessing these last four are 1-2 mph slower than the three mentioned on top.

P.S. Most effective breakers I've ever seen, who knew how to make balls and play position on the one were Earl and Shane. Earl had the most effective break of all time. He had it down to a science! I'm leaving out the great "soft" breakers here, guys like Corey Deuel and Donny Mills. If you gave either of these guys the break you would have ZERO chance to win.
 
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jay helfert said:
Most powerful controlled break I ever saw was David Howard's, who was a karate expert as well. I'm sure he was in the 30's consistently. Hardest break ever may have been George Breedlove, before he began to dislocate his shoulder. His break was actually ear splitting if you stood to close. I'm guessing he was on the highest end of the spectrum. Right next to him I would put Kucharo, who had a monster break and game. Too bad he fell by the wayside so early on in his career.

Just a hair behind these guys are players like Wade Crane, Danny Medina, Charley Bryant and Larry Nevel. I'm guessing these last four are 1-2 mph slower than the three mentioned on top.

P.S. Most effective breakers I've ever seen, who knew how to make balls and play position on the one were Earl and Shane. Earl had the best most effective break of all time. He had it down to a science!
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Wow, thanks Jay. Its nice for one of the older guy that can compare. Everyone talks about Wade Crane and Danny Medina, but I, like most folks I bet, never got to see them in their hayday.

Thanks again,

Ken
 
Is the break speed app very accurate? I have it but don't have a chance to test it with any other device so I'm not sure if my results are true.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
rubell said:
What I do I point the cue a little bit down, hit below the equator and my cue tip lands on a table after the break shot. Maybe I create too much speed then.
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I'm not a big fan of hitting down into the cloth on break shots when hitting at high power as it increases the CB bounce. I try to swoop upward (with the tip) during the stroke, almost creating an arc. This is difficult, but it keeps the CB a bit flatter and hence lower.
 
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