Lucerna Hotels and Resorts group SCORE official hotel and title sponsor of Hotel Lucerna Tijuana 22nd SCORE Desert Challenge

SCORE MEDIA CONTACT: Dominic Clark, dominiccnv@aol.com
 
July 18, 2018
 
 
Sept. 19-23 in Tijuana, Mexico
 
    Lucerna Hotels and Resorts now SCORE official hotel & title sponsor of Tijuana 22nd SCORE Desert Challenge
 
 
Round 3 of 4-race 2018 SCORE World Desert Championship is split-format, multi-lap SCORE Baja race;
pre-race Contingency Thursday, Sept. 20 on Avenida Paseo de los Heroes in Zona Rio area of Tijuana;
motos, quads, some 4-wheel classes race Friday, Sept. 21; cars, trucks, pro UTVs race first half Sat. Sept. 22,
second half Sunday, Sept. 23 for four total laps over 40.0-mile loop course for 160.0 total race miles;
start/finish line at Rancho Casian in Southeast Tijuana, more info at www.SCOREInternational.com
 
 
    ENSENADA, Baja California, Mexico — Prominent Mexican hospitality company Lucerna Hotels and Resorts has entered into a sponsorship agreement to be the Official Hotel of the SCORE World Desert Championship as well as title sponsor for the upcoming Lucerna Hotels & Resorts Tijuana 22nd SCORE Desert Challenge, as announced officially by SCORE International.
The internationally-televised event is Round 3 of the four-race 2018 SCORE World Desert Championship. Featuring three days of racing in a unique format, the race and pre-race-week festivities will be held Sept. 19-23 with many of the official race functions being held at the Lucerna Hotel & Resort Tijuana.
Race-week festivities will be held Wednesday and Thursday (Sept. 19-20) in the Zona Rio area of Tijuana with racing Friday through Sunday (Sept. 21-23). The start/finish line will be located at the popular Rancho Casian complex on Boulevard 2000 (Highway No. 201) on the southeast outskirts of Tijuana.
SCORE RESPONSE
     “This sponsorship by the Lucerna Hotel and Resorts group is groundbreaking and exciting and we look forward to a long and mutually beneficial sponsor partnership,” commented Jim Ryan, SCORE Marketing and Sales Director. “SCORE has many, many resorts in Mexico that have hosted many activities for SCORE, but this is the first time in Mexico that one hotel group has ever become an official race title sponsor and the official hotel partner of the SCORE World Desert Championship.”
LUCERNA HOTELS & RESORTS
     Since 1966, the group has owned and operated locations throughout Mexico.  The chain operates in strategically located areas in key developing areas in Northwest Mexico.
In addition to the Hotel Lucerna Tijuana, other properties of the group include Hotel Lucerna Mexicali, Hotel Lucerna Ciudad Juarez, Hotel Lucerna Culiacan, Hotel Lucerna Hermosillo and the group’s newest property—Hotel Torre Lucerna Ensenada.
The new Hotel Torre Lucerna Ensenada, located on Highway 1 on the Northern outskirts of Ensenada will be the SCORE headquarters hotel for all SCORE Baja races in Ensenada starting with this November’s 51st SCORE Baja 1000.
RACE DAYS
The event features three full days of racing. SCORE Race Director Jose Grijalva has put together a 40.0-mile loop course through the challenging hills in the area that each class will run a total of four laps over for 160.0 total miles for the race. Racing each day will be held only during daylight hours with the motorcycles, quads and a few 4-wheel vehicle classes running both of their two, two-lap segments on Friday, Sept. 21. The remaining car, truck and utv classes will race the first two laps of their race on Saturday, Sept. 22 and the final two laps of their race on Sunday, Sept. 23.
RACE HQ/CONTINGENCY
Race headquarters will be the Hotel Lucerna in the heart of the Zona Rio area of Tijuana on Avenida Paseo de los Heroes. Racer registration will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 19 (2 p.m. to 8 p.m.) and Thursday, Sept. 20 (9 a.m. to 4 p.m.).
Contingency will be held in directly in front of the Hotel Lucerna Tijuana on the historic Avenida Paseo de los Heroes from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday (Sept. 20) with tech inspection lasting one hour longer until 6 p.m.
Also on Thursday, Sept. 20 at the Hotel Lucerna, the mandatory Aircraft Pilot Safety Meeting will be held at 6 p.m. followed at 7 p.m. by the mandatory Racer Meeting.
SPECIAL HOTEL LUCERNA RATES
Hotel Lucerna Tijuana is offering special rates for participants and fans for the September race week, including pre-running on Sept. 14, Sept. 15 and Sept. 16. Asking for the SCORE Desert Challenge rate, calls from Mexico should be made to 01.800.02 66 300 and from the U.S.A. should be made to 1.800.582.3762.
TIJUANA DISCOUNT CARD
The Tijuana Tourism and Convention Committee in association with SCORE and participating hotels, restaurants and retail stores in Tijuana are developing a special Tijuana Discount Card (TDC). Participants and fans will receive the free TDC that will offer great discounts, special prices and promotions that will include discounts up to 15% from the participating hospitality industry companies.
SPECIAL FORMAT
Unique for SCORE, the 22nd SCORE Desert Challenge will use this race format that has all classes racing in three different groups for a total of four laps over a surprisingly rugged 40.0-mile race course (160.0 total miles) split into two, two-lap sessions.
TIJUANA HISTRIONICS
Having held nearly 160 races in Mexico in the last 40-plus years, this will be the second time that SCORE has held a race that has both started and finished in Tijuana, the growing metropolis immediately across the border from San Diego in Baja California. In 1967, the first SCORE Baja 1000 (then called the Mexican 1000) started at the bull ring in Tijuana and the 1995 SCORE Baja 1000 started in the wash near the Hotel Lucerna in Tijuana but no SCORE race had ever finished in Tijuana prior to last year’s SCORE Desert Challenge.
In addition to the three starts in Tijuana, SCORE Baja races have been held numerous times in Ensenada and San Felipe, several times in La Paz, a few times in Mexicali, Santo Tomas, Ojos Negros and Cabo San Lucas, and once each in Loreto and Rosarito Beach.
SCORE DESERT CHALLENGE
While this is the second time in Tijuana, the SCORE Desert Challenge has been held 21 previous times since it first began in 1995. It was held in Laughlin, Nev., USA, from 1995 through 2012, in Plaster City, Calif., USA, in 2014 and in Rosarito Beach, Baja California, Mexico in 2016.
TIJUANA
Tijuana is one of the five largest and fastest-growing metropolitan areas in all of Mexico. The city has also experienced tremendous growth in recent years, attracting investments by electronics, aerospace and medical tourism firms and is also regarded as one of the top cuisine destinations in the world, including craft beer production.
Tijuana has also recorded its best hotel occupancy rate in the last 15 years and has attracted additional hotel chains like City Express, Holiday Inn and the Hyatt Hotels among others.
Prior to last year’s SCORE Desert Challenge that started and finished in Tijuana, only two races in SCORE history had started in Tijuana. The first was the inaugural SCORE Baja 1000 (then called Mexican 1000) in 1967 and then again in 1995.  In both of those years the SCORE Baja 1000 finished in La Paz.
SCOREscope
Below is the four-race 2018 SCORE World Desert Championship schedule. For the third consecutive year all four races are being held in Baja California, Mexico:
32nd SCORE San Felipe 250, April 4-April 8, San Felipe, Mexico
50th BFGoodrich Tires SCORE Baja 500, May 30-June 3, Ensenada Mexico
Lucerna Hotels & Resorts Tijuana 22nd SCORE Desert Challenge, Sept. 19-23, Tijuana, Mexico
51st SCORE Baja 1000, Nov.14-18, Ensenada, Mexico
SCORE SPONSORS…
Official SCORE Sponsors: BFGoodrich Tires-Official Tire and official race title sponsor, Monster Energy-Official Energy Drink, King Shocks-Official Shock Absorber, Polaris RZR-Official UTV, RACELINE Wheels-Official Wheel, VP Racing Fuels-Official Fuel, Lucerna Hotels & Resorts-Official Hotel and official race title sponsor, Wide Open Excursions-Official Arrive and Drive Company, Crystal Bay Casino-Official Casino.
SCORE Official Partners: PCI Race Radios, 4 Wheel Parts, The Satellite Phone Store, Satellite Del Norte.
Additional SCORE Associate Partners: Proturismo Ensenada, Baja California Secretary of Tourism, Mexicali Ayuntamiento, COTUCO Mexicali/San Felipe, Cruz Roja Mexicana, Corporate Helicopters, McKenzie’s Performance Products, Advanced Color Graphics.
Hotel Lucerna Tijuana 22nd SCORE Desert Challenge Special Partners: XXII Ayuntamiento de Tijuana, Baja California State Secretary of Tourism, Comite de Turismo and Convenciones, Comite de Marcadotecnia Turistica, Lucerna Hotels & Resorts group, Asociacion de Hoteles del Noroeste.
For more information regarding SCORE, visit the official website of the SCORE World Desert Championship at www.SCOREInternational.com.