I haven't officially confirmed but just for fun after I crossed the finish line it gives you like a 20 second count down or whatever it gives you. So I used that time to find a place to get airborne for a trick. There is or was a bounty depending if you finished it already for tricks. I did 1 trick afterwards going down the track and it counted 1/10. And I haven't attempted a trick prior during the race. Otherwise yea tricks are just tricks to keep you from getting ahead lol.