Took part in American bike race and finished (8)
I believe the answer is:
attended
'took part in' is the definition.
'american bike race and finished' is the wordplay.
'american' becomes 'a' (common abbreviation - e.g. in organisation names).
'bike race' becomes 'tt'.
'and' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'finished' becomes 'ended' ('ended' can be similar in meaning to 'finished').
'a'+'tt'+'ended'='ATTENDED'
(Other definitions for attended that I've seen before include "'Went to, was present at (8)'" , "Was present at or waited upon" , "Paid heed" .)