I am making assumptions, but normally lift increases with speed, and this would be one way to keep the nose down.
Another thing pilots like to do is fly with nose down trim to put some weight on the stick making it easier to control, positive trim takes all the minor jitters out of the controls and makes the plane more stable. Aerobatic pilots in particular do this, not so sure about air races but it would have it's place. Most of the Snowbirds fly the show with a considerable amount of nose down trim for this reason, the Blue angels actually wrap bungee cords around the stick pulling it forward to give them a positive feel, since the computer compensates when they trim it nose heavy.
It could have been a balance tab, but that wouldn't have caused the elevator to move, it would have made the pilot work harder, thats about it.
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