The past week has been a combination of grief, and immense joy, for Phillip Island local Rosa Scarlato.

The owner of Pino’s Trattoria in Cowes has seen decades of MotoGP races on the island. Her clientele includes some of the sport’s most famous riders and teams who traditionally dine at her restaurant every year before the race, with endless orders of bruschetta or bolognese.

But this weekend will be the last.

Pino’s owner Rosa Scarlato. Zoey Duchene

The news came in mid-February that Victoria had lost its MotoGP race to South Australia , ending a three-decades long connection to Phillip Island and dealing a blow to the Victorian government after it refused to move the event to Melbourne.

“I’m not happy it’s going, but we had beautiful days, good memories and good nights spent together, laughing, and nobody can take away the enjoyment we have had for the last 35 years,” Scarlato told this masthead.

“I think life must go on, if the government wants this, what can we do?”

The mixture of excitement and…