Steve Emerson raced across the Midwest to win a season championship this season.



The Baxter resident won the Semi-Pro 440 title aboard a Ski-Doo in the United States Cross Country snowmobile racing circuit.



He won the first event of the season, at Minto, N.D., and the last, at Munising, Mich., and competed in four events in-between. His accomplishment is exceptional considering it was his first season in cross country racing after three previous years in snocross.



"I couldn't have done it without the help of some friends, like Tony and Josh Goble," Emerson said. "Tony helped me out a tremendous amount. If I had a question I went to Tony. He let me use his garage for a while to get going."

Steve Emerson Age: 25 Residence: Baxter High school: Eveleth-Gilbert, 1999 graduate Post-high school: Alexandria Technical College Occupation: Sales, Tanner Honda Sponsors: Brothers Motorsports, Action Graphics, Studboy, G&L Excavating, Park X, Liquor Pigs, Tanner Honda

Emerson got going in January in North Dakota. The day after the race at Minto he finished third at Grafton.



He finished third in the next race at Barnesville, then it was on to the grueling I-500 at Thief River Falls, where he was unable to finish due to mechanical failures.



"Everything is run completely different from every other race we've done this year," Emerson said of the I-500. "You show up Thursday night, they tech your sled, then they take it away from you basically. You can't touch it until morning. Then you get 15 minutes to re-jet your sled, fuel it up and get ready for the day.



"It's 180 miles of course. You have two fuel stops. It's different terrain, from logging roads to goat trails in the woods. There are cars on the course, people are out there, dogs, you get challenged by every element."



Emerson then finished second in a race at Ada and capped off the season with the win in Michigan, a two-day event with 40 miles of driving each day.



"It was probably the most challenging course I had to endure this year," Emerson said. "A lot of it was going through the woods, just wide enough for a snowmobile.



"I got lost on Lake Superior. You had to race out to and on an island. It was kind of overcast and the stakes were hard to see. I missed them and got off course.



"I saw a sled coming up behind me that was heading toward the shoreline in the other direction. I knew it was an experienced rider. I knew I had to get back over there because you were on the clock. I ended up 27 seconds down for the day.



"On day two I knew I needed to challenge myself to have a flawless race. If I want to move up in the rankings, as far as the next level, you need to run flawless races. I ended up winning by 19 seconds. In other words I made up 27 seconds, plus 19 more, just by having a flawless race."

Steve Emerson of Baxter won the Semi-Pro 440 season title aboard a Ski-Doo in the United States Cross Country snowmobile racing circuit. Brainerd Dispatch/Nels Norquist

Emerson began drag racing snowmobiles when he was about 12 and progressed to trail riding.



"I've always been an aggressive trail rider, an aggressive rider in general, then I figured I would try snocross," he said. "It worked out pretty good for the most part. It's tough, the traveling, the unknown.



"You go into a weekend and your equipment could fail. You need every piece of equipment to finish a race in snocross, going into the first corner knowing you could get taken out and there goes your whole race.



"I had always taken a lot of interest in cross country racing. I used to watch Brad Pake and Kirk Hibbert racing cross country. I thought, 'Wow, that's something I could never do, get out there and not know where I'm going or what's around the corner.' You've got miles of territory. You have no clue what's out there, what other drivers might have dug up."



Emerson hopes to move up the ranks next season and race in the Semi-Pro 600 class.



"Pro 600 would be just too much," he said. "It's an extra, extra level, like the difference between the Busch Series and the Nextel Cup. It's two different deals. You've got to be that much more on top of your game, not only for you but for the other drivers.



"I think that will come with time. You can't just jump from one ranking and into the Pro level. You've got to go through the Semi-Pro level."



Mike Bialka can be reached at mike.bialka@brainerddispatch.com or at 855-5861.