Was there when a race finished (8)
I believe the answer is:
attended
'was there' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'a race finished' is the wordplay.
'race' becomes 'tt'.
'finished' becomes 'ended' ('end' can be a synonym of 'finish').
'a'+'tt'+'ended'='ATTENDED'
'when' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for attended that I've seen before include "'Went to, was present at (8)'" , "Paid heed" , "Was present at or waited upon" .)