Best in the West Nuggest Rib Cook-off - method question

[James Tag]

I watched the rib cook-off on the Food Network last night.
What was interesting to me was that the competitors (25 teams of them) would do their ribs by smoking them first, then slatheringon a sauce and finishing them off on a grill.
Is this SOP in rib competitions?
I make my ribs by smoking them and then serving them. I don't put on a finishing sauce and I don't put them on the grill.
I take them out of the smoker, cut them up, and serve.
The only sauce used may be a mop sauce or an apple juice spray, but I don't serve the with a sauce, and I haven't had any complaints.
I figure with the spices in the rub giving it a flavor, and the mop sauce/juice spray helping seal that flavor on, there isn't aneed for a sauce to be served with it.
Is the method used in the rib cook-off normal in most competitions?

 

[Doug D]

It was more like a multi-day mega rib fest, rather than strictly a competition. As to cooking techniques, I think the main thrust was putting out as much profitable product as possible in the time alloted. Some illumination here.