As well, if you pull up on the front part of a jump, before the lip, you can basically bunnyhop a smaller jump and land on the downward side to use that for momentum.

Most of those pictures are of guys coming out of jumps and landing rear wheel first or just going up for jumps with the front wheel up so they don't get as high. Spending to much time in the air during a race isn't really a good thing from what I've seen.

I am FAR from an expert though.