Then that will limit the type of flying you will be comfortable doing. If that limited perspective is adopted by the majority of 18m competition pilots, then the rules need to be adjusted to reflect that. Clearly thats whats happening and I would agree that's the type of racing they all chhose to do..

However that being said, then one need not be surprised when guys screw up and having no experience with low flying/pea patch landing/ground scraping end up hurting themselves.

I can tell you, when I lived in minden I flew the 1-26, the pilatus b4 and the ventus all with the same personal minimums, knowing however that the ventus gave me many more options distance wise, but all three could be put (and were) into tight landing places. Doing that with the ventus however took me about 30 pattern tows before I got a handle on getting her in slowely and in limited distance.
During 20 years of flying all three ships I made 23 outlanding that were not at established airstrips. Bent the pilatus one time hitting a lone unseen fence post.

As for the cost of damage, I'm assuming your ship is insured. You have to have it anyways so did I. It hurts just as much bending a 1-26 as it does a glass bird.