JACK Stanton-Warren of Halesowen Cycling Club Academy continued his fine run of form with a strong fifth place in the UK's toughest race of the weekend.

He made a late, solo escape at the Beachy Head Classic last Sunday to secure an impressive finish.

The 80-mile race on a tough circuit around the iconic climb on the South Coast near Eastbourne was won by Michael Mottram of Morvelo, with Stanton-Warren biding his time in the peloton until the finale before making his move, but being just unable to catch the four leaders. As his build-up to the national championship on the Isle of Man continues, Stanton-Warren contests the Ham Hill road race in Dorset this weekend.

With a gap in the West Midlands race calendar, his teammates in the Halesowen Academy took a weekend off, enabling Tom Swingler and Nick Clayton to continue their recovery from recent crashes.

Meanwhile, at the Halesowen Velodrome this Sunday the club will run the track's biggest event of the year, hosting rounds of the National Men's Track Endurance series and the national Women's Omnium series. Local star and former Halesowen rider Jacob Tipper heads a full entry in the men's race including Mottram of Morvelo, multiple master's national champion and former Commonwealth games racer John McClelland and Reading racer Stephen Bradbury.

Flying the purple Halesowen flag are Clayton, Matt Clarke and under-16 Jamieson Blain. Several of the country's best juniors also contest the women's races with a full programme of events starting at 10.30am.