Being a race competitor myself, I feel that a series is a better showing of over all riding ability, tuning, equipment, etc..
I run D23 hillclimbs and have for a long time. In 2009 I came in 2nd to my brother. I won in 2010 and 2011. And I took 4th in 2012 attending only 4 climbs (won 3 of them).
That said, I have never won the Open ATV class at Nationals yet each of those years at Districts I beat the National champ easily.
Consistency is KEY and to me winning ONE race proves little.
This really has nothing to do with Shearer/Sniper, just my thoughts on a series versus a single race.