Spaniard Carlos Checa has shrugged off a pair of devastating DNFs at last weekend’s Miller Motorsports Park round of the Superbike World Championship in the United States.

The Ducati Althea rider lead both races at the Salt Lake City circuit by a comfortable margin before heartbreaking electrical gremlins on the 1198 R forced him out of two almost definite race victories.

“Everything went well – the work, the preparation, the performance, the passion, the race, the team, yet unfortunately the results did not come,” Checa commented this week.

“It’s never happened before! We were strong and I will leave [the USA] with my head held high. I will immediately turn the page and concentrate on the upcoming tests in Misano and the next race, where I know we can do well. That’s racing.”

Checa, a former MotoGP and WSBK race winner, will now focus his energy on the remaining round of the series, however general manager of Althea Racing Genesio Bevilacqua noted the true disappointment of the team.

“After the results seen in the sessions and, above all, the laps in which we led the races, we are of course disappointed with Carlos’ results,” he commented. “However, as he himself said, we need to turn the page and once we understand the reasons for today’s events we will concentrate on preparing for Misano, where we can do well.

“Our morale has taken a blow but Carlos’ laps as race leader have given us confidence. There are going to be days like these in racing but we’ll be back and fighting at Misano.”