Bostroms cheat death in speedboat crash.

World Superbike star Ben Bostrom, his brother Eric and girlfriend Kat were lucky to escape with their lives after a speedboat travelling flat out struck their dingy while the trio were on holiday in Sardinia, Italy.

Although both Ben and Eric were relatively unscathed after all three jumped overboard, model Kat was not so fortunate and suffered six broken ribs, head wounds and a punctured lung after being hit by the boat - she currently has a drain on her lung, is heavily medicated and faces a long stay in Hospital.

"We were out on Saturday night and then on Sunday we figured we'd hire a boat and go for a cruise around." a shaken Ben Bostrom explained on his website benbostrom155.com. "That's when the trouble started. We were some ways out when Eric and I saw a long fast boat heading our way and it was going pretty quickly too.

"It was heading right for us, and we realized that the driver couldn't see us and was going to hit us. Right at the last minute Eric and I realized there actually was going to be a crash, so we just grabbed Kat and the three of us dove into the water.

"This boat - they're called Cigarette boats because of their shape - was right up on its tail, planing, and it went straight over our little boat. Eric got tumbled around pretty badly. I was completely fine but Kat actually got hit by the boat. She was lying face down in the water with blood coming from her head. I honestly thought she was dead," admitted BB.

"Eric and I held her up out of the water for a couple of minutes as we got back to our boat which hadn't sunk, but then the guy who'd hit us came back and we all got pulled out of the water. Kat wasn't breathing and I was trying to give her mouth to mouth resuscitation and eventually she started to breathe real gently and by then the police and coast guards were there."

"Eric and I are fine, but she's in a bad way. I thought I'd lost her. I don't think I've ever come so close to seeing someone nearly die," confessed the American.

Ben Bostrom won five straight races towards the end of the 2001 and was a pre-season title favourite, but has been mysteriously off the pace this year.

Brother Eric is a future star who rides for Kawasaki in AMA Suberbikes - but has made several wild card appearances for the factory Kawasaki team in WSB this year as a replacement for the injured Hitoyasu Izutsu.

Eric emerged firmly from his brothers shadow at Laguna Seca this year - leading the WSB field at the start of race two after an amazing move around the outside of turn one. He went on to take a fourth placed finish to back up his sixth in race one.