@matigo Matt Gemmell has an interesting summary of UX research on those menus at http://mattgemmell.com/pie-menus-on-mac-os-x/. http://mattgemmell.com/pie-menus-on-ios/ used to have some demos, but appears bitrotted across blog system migrations.
Your puck is a bit different, as it springs a typical linear rather than a radial menu.