I've never seen this problem before, Appears the tire is totally defective, Maxxis should replace that tire for you free of charge.
As for not running tubeless in a race, I believe your problem is very uncommon, lots of racers run tubeless tires. Maybe there are other brands, like GEAX or Continental, that have better quality control. Don't give up on tubeless based on one bad experience, for me it's more reliable than running tubes.
