Who does tricks while racing ?. I still enjoyed it though
I had a guy lap me in a race earlier this year, he got some pretty serious air off a small hump, flicked the bike sideways, held it briefly and then straightened up and landed nicely. I guess he was pretty sure he wasn't going to fark it up. Mind you, that was the first time I've seen something like that (excepting bunny hopping barriers and logs and stuff)
There's some benefit, getting a few tricks down isn't going to do any harm your general bike control.