The in-form World No 2 had battled from last to second in his semi-final and was on the verge of going into the final when his bike ran out of fuel, one of speedway's cardinal sins.
He ground to a halt, allowing Danish title rival Nicki Pedersen, who he had overtaken in the race, to blast through for second place and a spot in the final.
Crump had to settle for 11 Grand Prix points when his form suggested he could have taken 25, by repeating his win in the Danish Grand Prix in Copenhagen a fortnight ago.
Pedersen cashed in by finishing second in the final to Aussie Leigh Adams to take 20 GP points, when he had looked set for 13.
Crump's agony was increased by the fact that he missed the chance to make up ground on defending champion Tony Rickardsson, of Sweden, who was eliminated in the other semi-final.
Rickardsson and Pedersen are joint leaders after five of the nine Grand Prix series with 89 points, followed by Adams on 78 and Crump on 72. But he could so easily be second, just three points behind Rickardsson.
The Belle Vue man conducted an urgent inquest with his pit team over how the mistake had happened before leaving to ride in Poland yesterday.
Belle Vue colleague Jason Lyons was eliminated early in the meeting and is 15th in the overall ratings on 20 points.
Crump misses Belle Vue's home British League Cup return against Sheffield at Kirkmanshulme Lane tonight (7.45) because of the cap on team strength in the inter-league competition.
The Aces bring in former captain Neil Collins and Wolverhampton veteran Graham Jones as guests. Collins, recently released by Hull, has joined Peterborough to ride in their Conference League side.
Sheffield include Salford youngster Ricky Ashworth, who has made great strides this season.
BELLE VUE: S Johnston, C Watson, A Dryml, C Manchester, J Lyons, N Collins, G Jones. SHEFFIELD: S Wilson, R Ashworth, R Brady, A Moore, A Compton, J Birkinshaw, B Wilson. Tweet
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