[6] He took his first win in the fourth event he entered, again riding the Velocette in the 2nd division Junior Clubman's race at the Mount Druitt circuit on 21 November 1954.

[1] Phillis was lauded as "Star of the Day" at his first appearance at Thruxton, where he won the 500cc Senior event after a race-long battle with Derek Powell and set a new 500cc lap record.

[8] He repeated this "double" shortly afterwards at the International Västkustloppet road race on the Falkenberg circuit near Skrea in Sweden,[9] establishing himself as one of the top privateers in Europe.

[10] Also in 1959, he was chosen by the Auto Cycle Council of Australia as their "most promising rider", and given a grant to take part in the 1959 Isle of Man TT although he was omitted from the official Australian team for the event.

[12] He was seventh at the end of the first lap of the Senior TT, but struggled with torrential rain and high winds and eventually finished sixteenth.

[14] In the 125cc race, Phillis was the leading Honda and lying in sixth place on the second lap when he had stop at the pits to change a plug, eventually finishing tenth.

[16] Set to compete for Honda in the Dutch TT shortly afterwards, Phillis fell during practice and broke his right collar bone and his place was taken by Jim Redman.

[19] Phillis fell off his 125cc Honda in Ulster while lying fourth, but did better at Brands Hatch a fortnight later, chasing Mike Hailwood throughout, despite being hampered by "a gearbox full of neutrals".

[25] The defending 500 cc world champion, Gary Hocking, was so affected by the death of his friend that he immediately retired from competitive motorcycling.