MotoGP: Spanish King keeps the peace

"Listen shortarse, shake hands or else..."

KING JUAN Carlos of Spain played the role of peacemaker after the Jerez MotoGP race, when he firmly grabbed deadly rivals Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo by the arm, and made them shake hands.

The two are very much at loggerheads, after Lorenzo complained that Pedrosa had completely ignored him on the Qatar rostrum, where it would have been at least courteous to congratulate him on a fine class debut. In the intervening two weeks, the Spanish press has been stoking the controversy.

They did shake hands, out of sight of the crowds, at the royal behest, but once surrounded by commoners again it was back to playing no-speaks.

Invited to comment at the post-race press conference, both declined. But Lorenzo had already given his countrymen another ringing quote: “The difference between me and him is that when he gets onto a train, nobody notices,” he said.