It will be a little bit difficult for a student to frame and publish his first research paper correctly. How can a delay of 6 months or over after lab work for a paper affect it? Can a student take step to publish his work without any mentor?
Do not publish without your mentor's permission. Your mentor will give you valuable feedback on how to improve your paper before publication. However, feel free to present the material at a symposium that you convene. Do not worry about other researchers beating you. They face the same delays in preparing their papers.
It is not solely about mentor's permission. If it is going to be the first paper of your life then it would certainly require improvement. Take help of your mentor or seniors. Never keep an ongoing work pending. Finish it and publish on a priority bases.
It happens so often. I know of a Ph D student who left his guide in agony. After submitting the MS to his guide he waited for one and a half years for final correction. He requested his guide again and again for quickly correcting his MS but his guide told him that he has third position in the queue and he will start checking his MS after completing the first two.