Is present as a race finishes (7)
I believe the answer is:
attends
'is present' is the definition.
(to attend something is to be present at it)
'a race finishes' is the wordplay.
'race' becomes 'tt'.
'finishes' becomes 'ends' ('end' can be a synonym of 'finish').
'a'+'tt'+'ends'='ATTENDS'
'as' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for attends that I've seen before include "Pays attention" , "Heeds" , "to listen carefully" , "ministers" , "Appears" .)