Restrictor plate racing returned to the historic Argyll Velodrome on April 17, 2009 with the 81" Cup. The racers battled it out in a 5 event Omnium consisting of both timed and group events. While some were separated by categories, intense sibling rivalry was witnessed with three pairs of brothers battling for early season track bragging rights.

In the C group, the Burtnik brothers battled it out with Mason taking the early lead in the flying 200m and finishing second to Sky in the devil. Evan came back, with partner Pearce, to take the Team Pursuit. Even continued the good riding through to the standing lap, besting his brother and second placed John Chang. In the open 5 Mile Scratch race (which consisted of riders from Group B & C), Mason, Evan and Graham Todd (B group) fought hard to close the gap, but were unsuccessful, finishing 3,4 and 5th in the event. However, Evan had accumulated enough points to edge his brother by 0.4 points. John Chang got off to a late start but managed to edge Pearce Hanna for the final podium spot.

In the B group, Graham Todd fired off an early season warning to his competitors with a blistering 13.72s flying 200. Graham’s time was brought into question, however, after his bike failed a post-race technical inspection.  After resolving his issues, Graham went on to prove that it wasn't about the gear as he and partner, recent world masters medalist, Yvonne paired up to win the team pursuit. Graham then narrowly edged both Scott and Mason R in the violent standing lap effort. In the open 5 mile Scratch race, Scott made an early assault on the back which was answered only by Mason R. The pair worked together for the bulk of the race and the eventual overall winner, Mason R, took charge in the finale leaving Scott in second place. For his efforts Mason received his share of the prizes and most importantly a free upgrade to group A. Two of the group B riders braved the open 10 mile, the returning Gail Wozny and Bill Burtnik jumped into the longer race, and while they missed the break which contained the eventual winner, the pair toughed out a grueling event with the bulk of the pack.

The premier group (A) was particularly potent as it was packed with racers prepared to pelt, especially without the pervasive winds of the past. The preeminent pairing of the day was between the polish protégé (Maciej Rocki) and Peter Hillman (who works for the power company).  The Polish rider put up a primo pass in the flying 200 but only to be pipped at the line in the devil. The 2km team pursuit pitted Peter and the Polish rider on opposite teams. Peter was partnered with eventual overall fourth and 5th placed riders Adam Todd (whose father is a urologist....) and Vallen Razzaz.., anyway. The posse of Bakal and Rocki edged the trio to win the 2km TTT. Peter (who has been powerlifiting) pounded out the second fastest standing lap of the day in the penultimate competition. In the 10 mile Scratch race, the polish rider’s repeated attacks parted the paceline in several places throughout the race resulting in several groups from the starting pool. Despite pushing into the headwind which was picking up, the finishing time was 23:30 and won by Bakal (a professional predictor of probabilities).

Results PDF