Medina County Fair Motocross: Good friends Christopher Ross, Zach Mollohan compete with, against one another

MEDINA — Christopher Ross, a 20-year-old Brunswick resident, has been riding dirt bikes since he was 8 years old, but Monday night was the first time since early childhood that he competed in an actual event. Good friend Zach Mollohan, a 16-year-old from Medina, has been riding for just five years, but Monday was roughly his 50th competition. Both Medina Countians rode Honda CRF250R bikes in the Lightweight C and Open C divisions during the annual motocross event at the Medina County Fair, with Mollohan also taking part in the Pit Bike Pro class on his KLX110L. "There's butterflies," the soft-spoken Ross said prior to the events, "but it's fun. It's different from other sports — the freedom, the techniques, the styles." Because the 6-foot-1, 155-pound Ross was competing for the first time at the Medina County Fairgrounds, the 5-11, 137-pound Mollohan elected to move down a division and ride with him in the two "C" events. The "A" level is for advanced competitors and "B" is for intermediate riders, while "C" is for inexperienced entrants. "I'm an adrenaline junkie," Mollohan said. "I don't know exactly how to explain it, but the blood rushes through the veins in your arms when you're on the bike. "In my opinion, it's more fun than football. I stopped playing (football) in eighth grade, and dirt bike racing has been my passion ever since." Ross, who specialized in power equipment classes before finishing at the Medina County Career Center in 2019, now works in landscaping and spent $5,500 for his Honda CRF250R, which he has had since May. The fair event was his first competition since riding an XR70 in his grade school years. "My dad (the late Bill Ross) saw me riding with my friends when I was a little kid, and I think he decided to get me my own bike," he said. "I'm kind of just learning as I go. I mainly do it for the fun." Mollohan, who will be a junior at the career center and like Ross did before him takes power equipment classes from teacher Michael Juszczyk, has a great personal instructor in step-dad Eric Klein. Klein is a former professional rider — "He's 57, and he'd probably still be the best rider here," Mollohan said — who now instructs other pros and assists in the building of motocross courses. "It was a little scary when I first started riding," Mollohan said of his first bike, a KX80 that could reach a top speed of approximately 50 mph. "The torque was really fast for me at the start, but you get used to it." Mollohan then rode a DRZ125 for about a year and had been using an RMZ250 until it "blew up last weekend" at Apple Cabin MX in Lafayette Township, so he quickly came up with $6,000 to buy his 2019 CRF250, which had only 37 hours on it at the time of purchase. Capable of reaching speeds of 80-plus mph, that bike now has 15 more hours on it, as Mollohan usually competes at three different sites every weekend over the summer. "I'd love to go pro, but I know that ain't going to happen," he said. "I just do it for fun. I'd love to ride my entire life." Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @RickNoland on Twitter.